The lost child
by Just-Writing-Fanfics
Summary: After Alfred is named the Boy Who Lived, his older brother, Harry is cast aside. Harbouring a powerful gift, What will happen when he arrives at Hogwarts? Powerful, intelligent Harry, Good Dumbledore, wrong BWL.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:I do not own Harry Potter. Harry potter belongs to the brilliant J K Rowling. All characters are hers unless I add some of my own (unlikely).**

Chapter 1:the beginning

All was silent in Godric's Hollow. Not a soul was in sight as the hooded figure observed the Potters' cottage. Grinning evilly he approached the cottage, visible to him thanks to their 'loyal' friend Wormtail. Quietly laughing at the irony, he blasted the wooden door off its hinges, not bothering to take note of the fact that it hit James Potter. With barely a second glance, he stunned the unarmed mudblood with a casual gesture contempt. Pathetic, he thought to himself. Not even armed. He'd leave the mudblood for Snape, if he wanted her so much. Lord Voldemort did reward his servants, after all. Climbing the steps, he threw open the bedroom door, hesitating for a split second at the sight of the cot...and the child guarding it. Despite being but 2 years old, the Potter boy's piercing emerald green gaze send an unwilling shiver down his spine.

'Move out of the way, child. This does not concern you,' he told the older boy in his high, cold voice.

'No. You won't hurt my brother!' the stupid boy shouted, raising his hands.

'You mean to fight me,boy?' The Dark Lord asked incredulously, laughing. Before the child could reply, he was sent flying into the far wall, slumping to the ground in a crumpled heap. Pressing his wand to the head of the crying younger boy, he took a moment to observe the baby that was meant to be his greatest foe. Smiling cruelly, he said the words, unaware of the light glowing from the other boy's body. As he looked on with shocked surprise, a wall of pure golden light blocked his spell, flinging it back at him.

As his body dissolved, the malevolent spirit of Lord Voldemort was blasted from his body, the resulting explosion collapsing the roof of the bedroom. When the parents awoke and managed to enter the room, they found the unconscious forms of their children, the younger possessing a bloody forehead. When they wiped the blood away, they could see a lightning shaped scar. When Dumbledore arrived, the old man looked at the scar and performed a scan on the boy, finding residual magic surrounding him. Lifting the boy into the air, he spoke to the two parents, paying only the slightest attention to the still unconscious older boy in his mother's arms.

'Lily, James. I give you the Boy who lived'.

**Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I haven't got a set date for the next chapter but it probably won't be until next week, as I'm out this weekend.**

**until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2:hidden powers,shopping trouble

**Hi again guys! Sorry about the long wait, been very busy. In future, if i'm taking to long send me a PM with *poke* in. That'll get my attention.**

**I've also got a question at the end for you but i'll talk more at the end.**

**Now without further delay, enjoy the chapter! :)**

Chapter 2: hidden powers

Childish laughter drifted through Potter manor. Today was the 31st of July, the birth of Albert Potter. Said child was sitting in the Potter's living room, laughing at his godparents' jesting. Meanwhile his parents stood in the kitchen, smiling at the sound that their wonderful, gifted child was making. Lily stood making her special boy's cake, while James was wrapping the last of his presents. The two shared a quick glance, which confirmed to the other that this would be the child's best so far.

Meanwhile, in a small, forgettable room in the vast manor, a 12 year old was sitting on his bed, listening to the sound of his younger brother's laughter with a strange detachment. What few people knew, was that today was his birthday too. Still, to him it was nothing new. It isn't like it's the first time, the child thought as he summoned his wand to his hand, not bothering to reach for it. Stretching, he stood to draw his curtains, the light finally revealing the child's appearance. Raven black hair was styled in a sticking-up fashion, unlike the traditional messy Potter hair. Quite tall for his age, he was also quite muscular, his body showing the beginning of muscle development. However, the most remarkable part of his personality were his eyes. Impossibly green, they were his only form of expression, burning like fire at the continuation of his brother's laughing. He wrenched his mind from thinking about the sound, instead looking down at his hand. As he gazed at his hand, he remembered how he discovered his powers like it was yesterday.

#

_A young, painfully thin child stood in the kitchen, looking about for something to eat. Spotting a loaf of bread on a kitchen shelf, he jumps for it, but his 9 year old arms are too short. Falling to his knees he clutches his stomach, sobbing at the painful hunger clawing at his chest. Suddenly, he notices something, his hand is glowing! Raising his head, he watches in wonder as the bread floats towards him. Without a second thought he tears into it, finishing the entire loaf in a few seconds. Reaching out with his now pale hand, he wills the crumbs to disappear, gazing in delight as they disappear without a sign, without even a glow. For the first time in his life, Harry Potter truly smiled._

_#_

He still remembered that night, the night where his whole life changed for ever. Lifting his head he walked out of the room, heading downstairs. On his way to the kitchen, he glanced at his brother, remembering why he hated him. Short and chubby, with eyes so weak he had to wear glasses. That was just his appearance. He was arrogant, spoilt, selfish, greedy, cowardly and lazy. Quickly turning away, he continued into the kitchen, completely ignoring his parents. Grabbing a few slices of toast, he quickly ate them, completely oblivious to the fact that he was being observed. Finishing his toast he left the room, heading back upstairs. It was lucky he did, as at that moment his second most hated family(with two exceptions) flooed in. The Weasels-sorry,_ Weasleys_, he thought angrily to himself, paying no attention to them as they began greeting Albert.

As he sat in the Potter library, Harry heart the shouting and cheering from below, and realised he couldn't concentrate. Angrily slamming his book shut, he walked downstairs, completely ignoring his 'family' and their guests as he walked over to the fireplace. Grabbing a handful of floo powder, he threw it into the fire with a cry of "Diagon Alley." As he went, Lily stood watching him, her expression unreadable.

Stepping out of the fireplace in the leaky cauldron, he walked out into the bright sunlight after waving hello to Tom. Taking out his list of things he needed, he spared it a glance before shoving it back into his pocket. Walking into Gringotts, he bowed to the Goblin at the desk, who was impressed by his respect and was actually quite talkative. The Goblin, who was called 'Griphook' led him to his vault, where a few galleons and a small amount of sickles lay.

After promising the friendly Goblin he'd be back soon, he left the bank to head to each of the shops he needed to visit. A few hours later, as he wearily collapsed into a seat at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, he took notice of the small crowd gathering around Ollivander's Wand Shop. "What's going on?" he asked an excited young witch who was bouncing on her feet.

"Merlin's beard! It's Albert Potter," one crowd member exclaimed before the witch replied. Casting a low level disillusionment charm on himself, he pushed through carefully, to the sight of his smiling 'parents' and his pouting, arrogant 'brother'. Shaking his head, he walked back towards the Leaky Cauldron. Has the world gone mad? he thought to himself as he entered. A chubby, glasses-wearing child who wets himself at the sight of a snake, is being treated like a celebrity? Sighing to himself, he realised he'd better get back to the manor before his family or he'd probably throw up at his parents spoiling the brat.

'A few more days', he thought as he arrived at his house. 'Just 4 more days and I'll be on the Hogwarts Express back to Hogwarts'. As he entered the room, he realised something that he'd forgotten about September the 4th; his brother would be going too. Suppressing a sigh, he climbed into his bed, a scowl once again covering his face.

**And that's it! Now as I was saying at the beginning of the chapter, I have a request for you concerning this story.**

**At the moment, i'm on the fence about Dumbledore. Should I make him pro-Harry, or manipulative Dumbledore. Since I can't decide myself, i've left the decision to you guys. On my profile there's a poll titled 'should i make Dumbledore good or evil?' Please click on one of the options. Good for pro-Harry, and evil for manipulative Dumbledore. I'm keeping the poll open until December the 5th, so there's no need to rush.**

**Thanks for reading guys, and please do vote.**

**And that's all I have to say. Please review and consider following if you enjoyed.**

**Cheerio!**

**UPDATE:Hi guys! First of all, I'm so sorry for how long this is going to take :(.**

**Today I just thought; "what house is Harry going to be in?"**

**Now I've had to make a second post, which is going to be "which house should Harry be in?"**

**I'm so sorry for the wait but please do vote and I'll make sure that I'll update in the Christmas holidays.**

**Speaking of which, you voted for good Dumbledore, so that's what you'll get.**

**Bye for now.**


	3. Chapter 3: a mystery to solve

**Hey guys! I'm SO sorry for the delay! I know i promised, but i got caught up in decorations, PS4 and going out. I'll try and upload at least 1 more chapter this week.**  
><strong>Anyhow, have a great Christmas! I thought that I might as well submit this today since I'm behind on chapters and it serves as a Christmas to all you great people!<strong>

**[SPACE]**

Chapter 3: train trouble

It was 7 am at the Potter mansion, and already the sound of preparation could be heard. In the kitchen a yawning 11 year old could be seen eating, while across the house his parents were running to and fro, packing for their child's first year. Harry stood watching for a moment, his disillusionment charm rendering him invisible to their eyes. For a split second, a tear glistened in his eye for their complete disregard of his absence. Swiftly turning, he stepped out of the house, upon which his disillusionment charm was stripped away. As he closed the door, he once again failed to notice the green eyes so like his own staring at him from the kitchen. Breathing out suddenly in the chilly September air, he focused his mind on how he was going to get to the station. I can't apparate since I'm underage, I can't bring an owl onto a bus-glancing at his moody owl Hedwig as it tried to sleep-, and I still can't use a wand. As he placed the wand back in his pocket, another flashback sprung into his mind.

**[SPACE] **

_The 11 year old Harry stood in Ollivander's wand shop, subconsciously wringing his hands. As a haggard and drawn but somehow overjoyed Ollivander came back, holding yet another box in his hands, the young Potter couldn't help but sigh._  
><em>"Mr Ollivander, we've been at this for nearly an hour now and it's quite obvious you don't have my wand," Harry told the man, his voice potraying confidence that his body language did not emit.<em>  
><em>"Nonsense my boy, you were able to enter so there must be one in here for you," the aged wizard replied. Before he could ask what that meant Ollivander held out the box's wand, which upon seeing Harry could not help but gasp at. This wand differed greatly from the other. Being about 7 or 8 inches in lenth, it clearly fit comfortably into Ollivander's hand. Being a brown-reddish colour, it spoke of both elegance and usefulness. More startling of all, though, was the gemstone at the bottom. Coloured a rich dark blue, the gem was about the size of his thumbnail. As he took it into his hand, warmth and power seemed to flow into his hand, and from the wand's tip gold sparkles of power sprang into the air. Clapping in delight, Ollivander took the wand and carefully placed it back into its box.<em>

_"7 1/2 inches, redwood, dragon's scale. Powerful, loyal, and adept at both varied spells," the aged wandmaker told the stunned child. "The scale was freely given thankfully, otherwise its magic would have been lost. I'm afraid I know little about these kind of cores, since they're so rare. However there's an ancient story about the one whose wand is that of a dragon core. It's said that that dragon core wands are unbreakable, and when combined with its rightful owner the pair are formidable." Ollivander smiled slightly, shaking his head. "I myself do not believe in such fictitious stories. However I cannot claim complete knowledge over wands. Anyway, that'll be 7 galleons."_

_As he stepped out of the shop, Harry was lost in his thoughts. So as someone crashed into him, he was completely unprepared and fell to the ground. Angrily looking up, he froze in fear at the sight of the black hooded cloaked figure standing over him. "Excellent," he figure said before walking away, not caring to elaborate. Climbing to his feet, Harry stumbled into one of the Alley's crowds. Taking a deep breath and crossing his fingers, he concentrated on the name the Leaky Cauldron and he teleported_***** _to the bar.__ Waving goodbye to Tom the barkeep, he flooed back to the manor._

**[SPACE]**

Bringing his mind back to the present, he hastily placed his wand back into his pocket. I've no idea who that guy was, he thought. But i'll find out who he is. Something weird is going on and something tells me that guy can tell me what. Disappearances, the Ministry of Magic murders, the list goes on. As he teleported to Kings Cross station, he knew that this year wouldn't be as quiet or peaceful as his other years.

And he'd be ready for it.

**[SPACE]**

***Teleporting is**** a natural gift of Harry's; it's like apparating but it can pass through wards. At the moment, he can only teleport short distances.**

**Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are enjoying the direction that I am taking my story in. Please review and have a merry Christmas and a wonderful new year. :) :D**


	4. Chapter 4:oh, joyful train journeys

**Hi guys! Welcome to chapter 4 of The Lost Child! I'm really sorry for the amount of time it took to upload this! Life has been pretty hectic for me at the moment.**

** This story involves the station, the train journey, the introduction of Harry's friends and a happy brotherly chat. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter. All characters belong to J.K Rowling save for those I add in. **

At 7:30 am, it was unsurprising that King's Cross station was packed with people. Which was lucky, since Harry didn't want to draw attention. As he pushed his trolley through the crowded station. As he pushed his trolley towards platform 3, he reinforced his disillusionment charm, just in case a witch or wizard saw through it. As he reached the column between 9 and 10, he had to jump out of the way as a ginger haired boy and black haired boy ran through the spot where he'd just been. As he climbed to his feet, a devilish thought came to mind. Concentrating, he imagined the laces of the boys' shoes tying together. As he began walking again, he hid his smirk with difficulty, as the two boys buckled and fell in a heap. Using the distraction this created, Harry slipped through an elderly couple muttering about, 'useless fools,' and passed through the portal.

Stepping onto the sun-swept platform, he took a moment to listen to the familiar chatter of excited students both new and old. As he pushed his trolley towards the train he passed a round-faced first year who was saying to a bizarrely dressed elderly lady- his grandmother, apparently- "Gran, I've lost my toad again." The woman, who sounded like she'd heard this many times, simply replied with, "oh, Neville." Realising that he'd have to remove his charm before boarding, he waited until a group of chattering students surrounded him before he undid it. Discreetly passing through the large crowd, he began lifting his trunk onto the train.

"Need some help with that?" A pair of voices asked from behind him. Turning around, he took in the sight of two of the redheads from before.  
>"Sorry." The one on the left said.<p>

"Thought you were-" the one on the right continued.

"Someone else," They finished in unison. Rolling his eyes at their idiocy the elder Potter boarded the train, ignoring the shocked faces of the twins who were staring after him. Boarding the train, Harry found the nearest empty compartment before sitting down, casually chucking his trunk onto the seat next to him. Sighing with relief, he waited for the students outside the compartment to pass before he began. Pulling out his wand, he placed a locking charm on the door. Pulling out 'The History Of Magic,' he began to read, starting from the legends of Merlin, Morgana and King Arthur.

He knew not how long he sat there, seconds, minutes, hours, but he was brought back to the present by the sound of the compartment door opening. Quickly raising his wand, he immediately lowered it at the sight of his friends, who sat down in the compartment. In front of him was Alex, a blond haired boy who was always smiling, no matter the scenario. Next to him was Amy, a pretty brunette who was currently sitting a little too close to Alex to be completely innocent. Across from her and on Harry's left sat Tom, a black haired kid who was twirling his wand between his fingers. Finally, on Harry's right sat Samantha, a bookish, glasses-wearing girl with dark blond hair who was currently absorbed in her spell books.

Before any of them could start talking the compartment door opened again, and the individuals standing there were a lot less welcome. Alfred and Ron looked in on them, looking a little too haughty for Harry's taste.

'Hey Alfred. Recovered from your fall yet?' Harry asked, smiling as his friends, who must have seen themselves, began laughing. Narrowing his eyes, the youngest Potter moved into the compartment a little more, his hand twitching by his wand holster.

'If you try and pull your wand on me, I'll make sure you won't be able to use it for the rest of the day,' he warned the arrogant kid. Sneering, the boy made the mistake of disregarding Harry's warning. Before he could point it fully at him, Harry moved. Time slowed as he jumped to his feet. Twisting the obese Potter's wrist-forcing him to drop the wand into his hand-he then finished by kicking Alfred's left leg out from under him, knocking him to the ground with a cry of pain. pointing his wand at the fallen child, time seemed to return to normal.

'Get. Out. Now,' he told the boy, who was currently clutching his bruised wrist in agony. Struggling to his feet, Alfred backed out of the compartment.

'You son of a-' Ron roared, swinging his fist at Harry's face. Grabbing the fist, he used his other hand to grab the buffoon's upper arm, pulling him forward before slamming his palm into the boy's nose. Pushing the sobbing, bleeding ginger out of the compartment, he slammed the door so hard the glass shook in its frame. Breathing out with relief, he turned to see 3 faces staring at him.

'What?' Harry asked innocently.

'Where'd you learn to do that?' Tom asked, peering at him with an unreadable expression.

'Do what?' Harry replied, smiling as he sat next to Samantha, who still had not looked up from her DADA book. 'Sam? Earth to Sammm...' Harry queried, waving his hand in front of her face.

'Hmm, what?' She replied, quickly closing her spell book. Before he could ask, they were interrupted yet _again._

'Has anyone here seen a toad?' A bushy haired first year asked, gazing at each of them in turn. Turning to look at her, Harry gave her his most unwelcoming look.

'It's rude to walk in without knocking, or didn't your parents teach you that?' Not in the mood to listen to a lecture, he used his wand to push them out of the compartment, slam the door shut, and lock it.

A awkward silence ensued, with each of his friends looking at him with either concern or anxiety in their gazes. What he failed to notice, was that one was slightly smiling, as though something had pleased him...

'Merlin, Harry! You need to calm down!' Amy scolded him reluctantly, when it became apparent that no one was going to talk.'

'I am calm,' Harry replied, smiling cheerfully. Sighing, Amy turned away rolling her eyes, realising that it was pointless to try and reprimand him when he was like this.

'You can't just go around tossing people-' thankfully, they were interrupted at this point by the conductor, who announced that they would soon be arriving at Hogwarts.

**What did you guys think? Sorry if you're disappointed by the lack of talking or cheerful stuff, I'm not very good at writing relationships.**

**If there's anything you guys want to see in the next chapter, let me know and I'll do my best to do it.**

**Till next time. :)**


	5. Chapter 5:feasts and dreams

**I'm back again! Thank you all for the reviews and welcome to those who chose to follow this story. **

**Now that it's the Easter holidays, I'll try and write an extra long chapter(this one) with the time I have.**

**I also made a few changes to chapter 4, adding more dialogue and a hint for what will happen later in the story.**

**One final note;now that Harry's arrived at Hogwarts, I'll be able to make the chapters more exciting.**

**Anyway, on with the chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 5;frightful feasts and eerie dreams

Eventually, the train stopped at the station. As he stepped out into the bitterly cold air, Harry breathed a sigh of relief. After the 'incident' with the ginger fool and Alfred, the atmosphere in the compartment had been tense, to say the least. As he pushed through the busy station, he was bombarded with the shrieking of students and pets alike. As he walked, he passed the huge bulk that was Hagrid, who was currently bellowing ""Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" Reaching the carriages, he quickly climbed into one, pulling his trunk in after him. Breathing out with relief, he leaned his head back against the carriage. He understood his friends meant well, but they didn't know what it was like, living with someone who believed that the sun shone out of his-

'Well, what's this?' a voice interrupted his musings. Sighing, he slowly opened his eyes. I swear, if I'm interrupted _one more time_ whichever poor kid does it, is going to regret it for a long, long time. Turning his head to the side he took in the sight before him and smiled, struggling to hold in the laughter.

It was a sixth year. The boy had the ginger hair of a Weasley, and a prefect badge gleamed on his pristine uniform. The boy had a arrogant expression on his face, as though he believed that Harry should look up to him as his superior and therefore should obey him. Blatantly ignoring the pompous fool, he returned to his comfortable position and closed his eyes.

'How dare you ignore me! Do you know who I am?!' the boy yelled, the anger he was obviously feeling clearly visible in his voice. Sighing, Harry turned his head to acknowledge the boy.

'Not a clue. You look like a-what are they called?-wearley?' Smiling pleasantly, he turned away. 'Now if I were you I would find another carriage before we leave. So, goodbye.' As the boy opened his mouth to reply, the carriages began to slowly move forwards, forcing the boy to move or take the long trek up to the castle on foot. Closing his eyes, he sensed his friends entering the compartment, as though he knew who they were without seeing them. This puzzled him, nothing like this had happened before. As quick as it arrived, the sense vanished, and so he dismissed it as a one-off.

**[SPACE]**

The ride to the castle seemed to pass slowly, with his friends passing the time by idly chatting. He didn't hear them though, as he was too busy meditating. Unusual though it sounds for a twelve year old to meditate, he found that it helped to pass the time and allowed him to unravel the truth about his powers. Though he would never admit it, his raw power unnerved him, to the point where he questioned whether he could control it. He knew that no student should have this amount of power, which was like a storm and volcano intertwined. This led to him being distant with his friends, who could never understand how difficult it was. He'd become so distant that even his friends felt the change. They felt it now, throwing unnoticed glances at him, concern evident in their expressions.

He had seen how many of the students had struggled with the spells they were taught in class. Fortunately, this gave him an idea of how much he needed to downplay his power so as to fit in and not draw attention to himself. He'd also found that he could use his powers to create formidable occlumency shields, which he was so confident in that he believed that no one, not even Dumbledore, could pierce them if he didn't want them to.

A nudge brought him back to reality. As he opened his eyes and looked around, he realised that they had arrived. He saw his friends were already outside, pulling their trunks down after them. Scrambling to his feet, he did the same, landing gracefully. Following Sam and Alex, he walked through the heavy oak doors with the rest of the third years. Swiftly taking their places, he faintly listened to the babbling of Ravenclaw students. As he looked around, he saw that the majority of the students had their heads buried in books already. Bored with his house mates, he turned to observe the staff. There was only one change;Professor Magbip had been replaced by a pale skinned man wearing a turban. As he watched, the man appeared to mutter something to himself before noticing Harry. Turning away, he observed the other professors: Professor Mcgonagall sat to the inner right of the table in her iconic green robes and hat, Professor Sprout, as always, looked like she had just left the greenhouse, Professor Flitwick was talking to Harry's other teacher, Professor Snape. With his iconic black robes and long, greasy black hair, he resembled a bat quite closely.

**[SPACE]**

It was a relief when the oak doors opened for the first years. Harry was sick of the tentative wait and the irritating babbling of Ravenclaws. Like all of the students, he turned to watch each student be sorted. Ravenclaw received about thirty more students, each looking excited at the prospect of joining the 'clever' house. As his brother swaggered towards the stall, an arrogant look on his face, a hush befell the hall which was promptly followed by murmurings. The silence was promptly filled with clapping as the Hat declared, 'GRYFFINDOR.' Only Harry seemed to have noticed that the Hat had kept shooting glances at the Hufflepuff table.

'You're his brother, right?'Someone on the table asked him. Turning his head, he saw that it was one of the first years. At this point most of the table turned around, eagerly waiting his reply-

'Unfortunately'

'What's he like?' The kid pressed, obviously fascinated.'Is he as brave as they say?' Harry snorted.

'He's scared of spiders, hates heights and runs to his parents whenever something frightens him,' he answered dryly. 'You tell me.' Before the kid could ask any more, the Headmaster stood up. The wizened man's movements betrayed his age, yet he moved with a grace and inner strength that Harry was forced to respect, even if he despised him.

'Welcome,' he said. 'Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!'

As he sat down, Harry rolled his eyes in distaste. Someone REALLY needed to teach the Head more jokes. As he filled his plate with food, his Sorting suddenly sprang to mind-

**[SPACE]**

_As his name was called, Harry slowly walked towards the hat, trying not to betray the anxiety that he felt. What if the Hat didn't Sort him? As he placed the hat on his head, he felt like an idiot. The Hat almost covered his entire head. As he sat there, clenching his hands to stop them trembling, he wondered what was going to happen. _

_When he heard the clear voice, he nearly jumped out of his skin._

_'Hmm,'said a small voice in his ear. 'Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, so you could fit in to Gryffindor. A good mind too. You like to question what is happening around. You clearly care for others, that's a Hufflepuff trait. There's talent, oh my goodness, so much hidden power. Slytherin could help you with that. Hmm, you fit into all of the houses...'_

_'Look, can you just sort me?' Harry interrupted, weariness taking over his anxiety. 'Not to be rude, but you're taking a long time.'_

_The Hat chuckled.'Another Ravenclaw trait; persistence. Hmmm, what about Gryffindor? Each of your forefathers wished to join that house, yet I sense differently for you. So...RAVENCLAW!' Smiling in relief, Harry began to move the Hat off of his head, but not before it parted with a message that confused him greatly:_

_'Beware, Harry. The darkness in your heart is powerful, and it is only the darkness within ourselves that will destroy us.'_

What had the Hat meant, that day? As he puzzled over it, the food in front of him vanished and was replaced with deserts. Whooping in delight, he grabbed his favourite snack; cheese puffs. As he chewed them smilingly, Alex looked at him doubtfully.

'How can you eat those things? They're disgusting,' he asked, wrinkling his nose.

'If you've never tried them, you haven't lived!' Harry exclaimed, immediately pushing several into his face. Alex coughed and wiped pieces of cheese puffs off his face, Harry laughed; the first, genuine laugh in a long time.

**[SPACE]**

Later that night, Harry tossed and turned in his bed, beads of sweat covering his face.

He stood on a tower, overlooking Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the mountains beyond. The sky was clear and blue and the sun shone, glinting off the snow-covered roofs. Children ran around, playing and laughing. As he watched, a sense of peace covered him. Yet in the blink of the eye the image changed. As he watched in horror and despair, the sky turned dark grey, as black lightning rumbled. Hogsmeade had turned from shining, snow-covered houses, to a village of flame. The children he had seen laughing and playing only moments ago, now lay dead on the dark road, covered in blood. As he watched, he saw the once magnificent towers of Hogwarts crumble into dust, as the castle burst into flame. As he watched, the bodies of the students and professors lay all around him, and there, covered in burns, blood and wounds, lay his friends. Feeling like his heart had been wrenched from his chest, he fell to his knees, looked down at the ground and wept.

He had no idea how long he sat there. But when he stood, he heard a voice.

**'If you fail, everything falls,' **the voice hissed, coming from all around him.

'WHO ARE YOU?!' He yelled, fire blazing in his eyes.

'**A being far beyond you,'** the voice replied. **'****Heed my words, or everything you love will be destroyed in fire and ice and thunder.' **

He awoke with a start, suprised to find his cheeks wet with tears. For a while he simply sat there, puzzling over the dream. He doubted that it was an illusion, and the being that communed with him must be powerful, to be able to bypass his occlumency shields like that. He was so tired, yet he was so shaken sleep seemed to be a great distance from him, something that he longed for but feared immensely.

He must have sat there for hours, for dawn was breaking by the time he stirred from his brooding. Pulling aside his blinds, he was reassured by the sight of Alex, who was sleeping yet snoring loudly. Sighing in frustration, he pulled his blinds shut and rearranged his sheet and blanket which had been disturbed in his tossing and turning. Turning over, he allowed himself to slip back into the blessed safety of sleep.

**[SPACE]**

**Soooo**...**what did you think? I'm afraid I've been lazy this Easter, and this is the only chapter I've managed to complete. Therefore, I've made this chapter just under 2000 words (not including this). I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if I can get another chapter done by the end of the holidays, I will.**

**Thanks so much for reading, and if you enjoyed, please review or whatever it is that you want to. XD**

**Happy Holidays!**


	6. Chapter 6:lessons and confrontations

**Welcome to chapter 6! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Anyway, I did what I tried to do and got this chapter to you before the end of the Easter Holidays(mine, anyway). Just so you know, I read your reviews for the last chapter and the ideas and theories you came up with were impressive. However, just one thing I want to address:**

**I chose Ravenclaw over Slytherin for two reasons. First, if Harry was placed in Slytherin Dumbledore, the professors, etc. would become suspicious of him. Harry knew this and chose Ravenclaw, allowing him to proceed unnoticed. Second, Ravenclaw won the poll for 'which house should Harry be in?' that was on my profile page.**

**Anyhow, on with the story. Enjoy!**

Chapter 6:lessons and confrontations

'Potter, wake up!'

'Huh?' Harry mumbled, startled out of his reverie. 3 weeks had passed since his foredream, and each night he was plagued by nightmares of the destruction he had seen, waking up covered in sweat. This meant he was barely able to keep his eyes open.

It was the end of 4th period-Transfiguration-on a Thursday, and the class were already leaving the room, some of the students sending him amused looks. Swearing under his breath, he hastily shoved his equipment back into his bag and slung it over his shoulder before jogging over to the door.

'Tell me Mr Potter, do my lessons bore you?' He heard from behind him. Turning around, he saw that Mcgonagall was glaring at him with one eyebrow raised.

'Uhh, no professor. Why would you think that? He replied innocently, slowly backing towards the door.

'This is the second time this week that you have fallen asleep in my lesson. It's unacceptable.' Barely avoiding rolling his eyes, he moodily apologised before hastily leaving the room.

Another side effect-grumpiness.

Worryingly, Mcgonagall seemed to _care _about him. That was the last thing he needed, to draw attention to himself. Meanwhile back in her classroom Mcgonagall sighed in frustration. The boy had no idea how ill he looked. His face was pale, his hands trembled and dark circles wound their way under his eyes. The boy looked like he was going to faint. Sighing with frustration, she couldn't help but compare him to his younger sibling. Where he was quiet, Alfred was loud and irritating. Where he was humble, Alfred was obnoxious and vain.

Sometimes she really hated her job.

**[SPACE]**

The rest of the day's lessons seemed to pass at a snail's pace. By his final lesson Harry's head was drooping, unaided by the fierce headache which felt like someone was beating on the insides of Harry's skull with a club. Yet still he smiled and laughed at the jokes his friends made, unwilling to let them see the true extent of his weariness.

Reaching the common room, he told his friends he'd see them at dinner and wearily climbed the stairs to his dorm before collapsing onto his bed. Unwillingly, he closed his eyes, and let the darkness consume him...

It seemed he had only slept for a small amount of time when he was awoken by footsteps heading down the stairs. Checking the clock in the corner of the room, he noticed that it was time for dinner. Doggedly climbing to his feet, he wearily proceeded down the stairs. As he left through the portrait, he was brought to a halt by the sight of Amy standing there, her arms crossed and with one eyebrow raised. Harry quickly covered his surprise and smiled in greeting.  
>'Harry, what's going on with you?' Amy asked, not changing her stance. Raising an eyebrow in return, Harry shrugged his shoulders.<br>'Ummm, I'm hungry and it's been a long day...and you really don't believe me,' he drew to a halt, quailing under her look of frustration.  
>'Harry Potter I swear that if you don't start being honest I'm going to curse you so badly that you'll look like an overgrown squid for the rest of your life!' Amy yelled, causing Harry to slowly back away.<p>

Sighing, he gave in to her threats, knowing he had not the strength to argue with her in his current state.  
>'Bad dreams,' he answered, letting his confidence drop for a few seconds. 'I've been having bad dreams ever since I came back here.' Amy froze in shock; this was one of the rare times where Harry dropped his confident, independent 'I- can-look-after-myself-and-don't-need-help-from-anyone' act, and showed what he really was; a scared twelve year old who was lost and alone.<br>'Wha-what kind of dreams?' Amy asked gently, dropping her impatient nature, worried that he'd freeze up.  
>'It's not important,' he replied, recovering his composure and assuming a blank expression. Touching his arm to comfort him, she let the subject drop.<br>'Anyway, I came up here to find you,' she told him, turning toward the stairs, motioning for him to follow.  
>'What's happened?' He answered, guessing that he wasn't going to like the answer.<br>'Your _brother_ is what happened,' she said 'brother' as though she hated the word. 'He's picked a fight in the Entrance Hall with some other Gryffindor called Neville Longbottom.'  
>'<em>Fine, <em>I'll sort it,' he reassured her grumpily.

No sleep for the wicked, it seems.

**[SPACE]**

The sight that greeted them as he pushed through the small crowd in the Hall did nothing to lighten his mood. His prat of a brother and his ginger friend had their wands pointed at a sobbing round-faced boy on the Hall's floor...and in front of them stood Sam, who stood with her wand pointed back at the first year duo. As he watched, Alfred and Ron flung several spells at his friend, who struggled to block the sheer number of spells with a shield charm. Looking past her, he noticed that Alex and the rest of the students-and Harry himself-were being blocked off by a nigh-invisible shield. Despite himself, he was impressed;it was extremely rare to find a wizard or witch who could cast a 360° shield charm. Seeing that Sam couldn't hold on for much longer, he took out his wand and pushed it to the barrier. concentrating, he felt the power that he feared so greatly like a raging tempest. Channelling his power into his wand, he released it, smiling in satisfaction as it shattered the barrier with ease. As he entered the circle he created a far stronger barrier. The last thing he needed was any innocents getting hurt. Before he could move, he saw an especially powerful spell shatter Sam's shield, throwing her backwards to fall limply on the ground beside Neville. Horrified, he ran to her side, feeling for a pulse, feeling inexpressible relief when he found one. Yet this grief exploded into fury upon hearing a certain voice.  
>'You! You were the one who broke my nose!' The Weasley yelled before loosing a bolt of magic at Harry, ignoring Alfred's yell to stop.<p>

**[SPACE]**

From the other side of the barrier, Amy and Alex watched in shock as Sam collapsed. Redoubling their attempts to pierce the barrier, they suddenly stopped in terrified hesitation at the sight of Harry. They had always known that Harry was more powerful than he made out, but what they saw now made them join hands in fear. Harry's eyes had gone a dazzling green, and the power he was exerting caused the students to feel increasingly dizzy until they could feel no more.

**[SPACE]**

For the first time in years, Harry let himself drop his façade as a weak wizard. As Ron's spell flew towards him, he raised his wand, flicking it aside as though it were a troublesome fly. At this time, both of the fools realised the danger that they were in and increased the power of their spells tenfold, blasting Harry with everything that they had. Yet not one spell reached Harry,due to the transparent shield that appeared in front of Harry, absorbing each of their spells. Flicking his wand slightly, the shield bent over their spells, trapping them inside like a glowing, transparent package. With a mere flick of the wand, his shield halved the power of the duo's spells into two orbs, which hurtled towards the boys. Too surprised to even move, the boys were sent hurtling backwards to land in a crumpled heap. Falling to his knees in exhaustion, he barely noticed as the Great Hall's doors opened with a ominous boom as the professors took in the sight of over a hundred unconscious students. With the last of his strength he cast the strongest charm he had ever attempted before slumping to the floor.

It seemed only one person noticed Harry's movement, and noticed the pool of blood slowly building around the girl who lay next to his unconscious form, and the power that he had exerted before falling unconscious.

Everything was about to change.

**[SPACE]**

**Dum dum dum! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If there's anything you want to see in the future, let me know and I'll see what I can do! :) **

**I enjoyed writing this chapter. I've wanted to write a proper action scene for a while and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. **

**One final note, if you can guess which professor it was that noticed Harry, PM me and If you get it right I'll give you an acknowledgement in the next chapter.**

**Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter. :) **


	7. Chapter 7:recovery

**Hello and welcome to chapter 7! Congratulations to HowlingRain, who won the guess for who noticed Harry. I'm surprised at the amount of people who believed that it was Mcgonagall. What gave you that idea? Lol.**

**So thank you all for the reviews, follows and favs, they're always appreciated. Someone in their review asked why Ron knows powerful spells. Well, you have to take several factors into account. 1, It was 2v1. 2. Alfred would have been taught spells by his auror parents and Dumbledore. 3. If Alfred was getting lessons regarding spellwork, then Ron would undoubtedly be taught as well, considering that he's effectively Alfred's lackey.**

**This chapter begins about 3 hours after the events of chapter 6. By the way, I'm taking the advice of another reviewer and so " is used to mark when someone is talking, and ' is used when he is thinking something, e.g 'I love cheese puffs.' **

**Enjoy the chapter and please review, fav or follow if you enjoyed. :)**

**[SPACE]**

Chapter 7: recovery

As he stirred, all Harry was aware of was the fierce headache he possessed and the ache of tiredness. His body begged him to slip back into sleep, but wish a shock he remembered the fight and the sight of Sam's crumpled form on the ground. Slowly sitting, he opened his eyes.

He was in the hospital wing. The light from outside shone through the open windows and lit up the room. Only 4 beds seemed to be occupied, his, Alfred's, Ron's...and Sam's. As he took in her unconscious form, he slowly slipped his legs over his bed and made to stand...before crumpling to the floor. For a while he just sat there, frightened by his body's weakness. He couldn't even stand up.

It was at this point that Madam Pomfrey entered through her office and stopped dead at the sight of him on the floor, his legs splayed out around. Tutting, she heaved him back onto his bed.  
>"What, pray, were you doing out of your bed, Mr Potter?" She asked, raising her eyebrows in the look he'd come to know as the 'if you give me an answer I don't like you're going to need that bed for the rest of the month' look. Quailing, he couldn't help but look at the bed containing Sam's unconscious form. Catching his look, Pomfrey smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry Harry," she said, using his first name for the first time. "She was lucky; Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape brought the two of you in here. It was lucky the professors brought her here, she'd lost a lot of best-relax, Harry!"she exclaimed, seeing Harry's face turn from pale to the colour of ash. "I healed the injury and she's just sleeping now. As for you, would you care to tell me why you are physically and magically exhausted?" She asked, dropping her sympathetic smile and switching back to her traditional stern look.<p>

Panicking, he opened his mouth to try and think of an excuse, but thankfully he was cut off by the wing's doors banging open. Turning, he smiled as Alex and Amy ran over to the side of his bed. For a few moments no one spoke.  
>"At least you're conscious this time, Potter," Alex said grinning before the grin left his face with an "ouch" as Amy elbowed him in the ribs.<br>"What he _means_ is that it's nice to see you're ok, Harry," Amy said, glaring at Alex who was looking at her with a puppy-dog expression on his face.  
>"At least Sam's alright," Harry replied, casting a sad smile at Sam's crumpled form, still unmoving. He turned to look at Amy as she quietly coughed, wincing as he turned his head too quickly.<br>"Harry, we need you to tell us what you did in the Great Hall." Amy spoke gently, as if she thought he was really hurt. Breathing in deeply, Harry pulled himself fully upright, ignoring the numbness in his lower body and the headache that now felt as if someone had hit him over the head with a baseball bat. 'I am Harry James Potter. I'm far more powerful than any student in this school and I will _NOT_ be treated like I'm broken,' he thought, feeling a small amount of strength return to his weary arms, allowing him to pull himself up against the wall.

"What do you want to know?" He asked calmly, dreading the question that he knew was coming...  
>"How did you break that shield around Sam, Ron and Alfred?" Surprised, Harry looked up and saw that Pomfrey, Alex and Amy were all staring at him, waiting for his reply. 'How do they not remember the fight?' Harry thought, confused. 'They were there the whole time and I don't think I changed their memories. Mind you, I didn't mean to lose control either', he lamented bitterly.<br>It took him a few seconds to realise that Alex was talking.  
>"...Tom said he saw you trying to break the shield and that you dropped to the ground shortly after Sam," Alex finished, casting a glum look at Sam, piquing Harry's curiosity. He'd been doing similar expressions whenever he'd looked at sam since they'd come back from the holidays.<br>"The shield wasn't that strong, I think those two were too busy with trying to hurt-" he was cut off by a large yawn bursting out of his lips. This seemed to be a signal for Madam Pomfrey, who immediately began chivvying the two protesting teens out of the wing.  
>"The boy needs rest. Out, out out!" Closing the doors, she turned back towards Harry's bed, but saw he was already asleep. A moment of tenderness appeared on her face as she pulled the boy's sheets over his resting form before she re-entered her office.<p>

**[SPACE]**

After this Harry's condition improved significantly and swiftly**.** A few days later he was able to feed himself, and was even able to walk across the hospital wing, though he was left trembling and breathing heavily. Soon enough he began to nag Madam Pomfrey to let him leave the wing, though she refused to hear of it until he promised to use crutches and not exert himself magically or physically for at least a month. As he hopped along with his friends he grew frustrated at the worried glances they sent at him every few seconds. He finally managed to shake them by casting a weak illusion charm on him that caused anyone who saw him to see a blond haired, weak-jawed first year on crutches. As he moved towards the moving staircases, he swore violently under his breath; for his 'brother' stood with Ron and another first year. Ignoring them, Harry proceeded to hobble past him, barely avoiding the foot that snaked out to trip him up. Hobbling up the stairs to the Ravenclaw common room and up the steep tower, he leant his crutches against the bedside cabinet before collapsing onto his bed, allowing the spell to slip. 'I hate this school,' he thought despairingly as he slipped into blessed, dreamless sleep.

**[SPACE]**

"Harry," a distant voice called. Groaning, he opened his eyes and silently observed Alex and Tom, who were gesturing to him to follow them for dinner. Realising he couldn't reach his crutches, he began to force himself to stand and walk to them when an arm slipped around his waist and helped him to limp towards them. Smiling gratefully to Tom, he slipped them onto his arms and followed the two towards the dormitory's entrance.

Maybe things weren't so bad, after all.

**[SPACE]**

**Annnnnnnnnd there's chapter 7! What did you think? I hope you enjoyed and be sure to review, fav, etc if you enjoyed. :)**

**Sorry about the lack of action but it's not really the sort of chapter where he can fight from a hospital bed.**

**So thanks for reading and I'll see you in chapter 8. :)**


	8. Chapter 8:the headmaster

**Hello and welcome to chapter 8! From now on I'll try and have a chapter uploaded by the Sunday of every week.  
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**Just so you know, I've gone back through the other chapters and changed any outstanding mistakes. First though, I want to address something.  
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**Someone asked me in their review why Harry brought his trunk and owl into the carriage with him. My version of Harry does not place his trust freely. Therefore, he prefers to look after his own possessions.**

**I also want to thank all of you who reviewed, favourited and followed. I really appreciate it and I'm glad that you enjoyed the story enough to let me know, so thank you. :)**

**Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!**

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Chapter 8:the Headmaster

Several days had passed since he'd been released from the hospital wing, and Harry's strength was quickly returning. He was able to walk to and from his lessons and even climb the castle's steep staircases-though the climb still caused his legs to tremble with the strain for a while-and he was finally able to convince his friends to stop acting like his personal bodyguard and behave normally.

Despite his new-found cheerfulness, two things still bothered him. The first was to do with his magic. Harry knew that he had strained himself by using his full power. His growing body still couldn't cope with the strain of his growing magic. Speaking of his magic, he still hadn't fully regained it. It felt like a large piece of his being had been ripped out. Despite this, Harry was relieved. After the events of the last few days, he was glad to be able to behave like the average 12 year old, with no more fears than his exams and what homework he had to complete. In fact, he didn't have to restrain his magic anymore. The amount of magic that he had lost had left him with a slightly above average level. Harry's only fear was that when it returned, it might return without warning and he might have to strain himself again.

The second was Sam. He visited her each day and Madam Pomfrey claimed that her condition was improving. Yet everytime he touched her hand, it was like touching ice. Her hair was regrowing from where Pomfrey had cut it away to see the gash, and now there was a faint white scar where it had been. He preferred to visit alone, and he was glad that Amy and Sam understood that without him having to explain it.

"Are you Harry Potter?" A girl's voice asked from behind him. Turning, he smiled at the third year, who was blushing fiercely. Holding out a scroll, she pushed it towards him and as soon as he took it she hastily walked off.  
>"What was that all about?" Sam asked, coming to a halt upon noticing Harry wasn't following.<br>"I've no idea," he answered, honestly perplexed. Sam rolled his eyes.  
>"How about opening it and finding out?" Breaking the seal, he unrolled the message.<p>

"Dear Mr Potter  
>I require your presence in my office to discuss the incident that occurred last week. Please do not bring anyone else.<br>Yours faithfully,  
>Albus Dumbledore<br>P.S. The password is 'lemon drops.'"

"What did it say?" Sam asked as he rolled the letter back up and placed it in his bag. Sighing, he walked the way that they had come, beckoning for Sam to follow.  
>"Dumbledore wants me to come to his office," Harry replied as they began to climb the stairs. Already, his mind was whirling with what he could say. He couldn't tell them that he was solely responsible for breaking Alfred's shield, nor could he say that he had taken on both of them at the same time, lest Albus began to take more notice of him. As he reached the gargoyle guarding the office, he spoke the password and the gargoyle sprang aside. Checking that his occlumency shields were in place, he climbed the steps, knocked on the door, and entered.<p>

**[SPACE]**

The first thing he noticed as he stepped into the room was the loud mixture of sounds. 'I've never been in here before,' he thought as he looked around, awestruck by the room's simple beauty. Large and circular in shape, it was full of peculiar instruments and containing several bookcases piled with books that Harry's Ravenclaw side longed to read. A polite cough brought his attention back to the desk...and the smiling, old man sitting behind it.  
>"I take it you like my books?" He queried, smiling gently.<br>"It's amazing," Harry replied honestly, still on his guard and so he adopted an expression of amazement.  
>"Indeed," he answered expressionlessly.<p>

"In my younger days, I used to travel far and wide. Spain, France, Germany, Africa...I was fascinated by their cultures, their traditions. Each had their own style of magic, and I wished to understand each. So I collected books from all corners of the world, and yet everyday I learn something new...But come, I did not ask you here to discuss my collection of books, fine though it is," the Headmaster interrupted himself, his cheerful façade slipping to a grim face of seriousness.  
>"Harry, I've already heard Mr potter and Mr Weasley's account of what happened that day. They claim that Miss Foster attacked them and they retaliated in kind." At this, a red line of anger covered Harry's vision at this lie and he was forced to take a deep breath to calm himself. Raising his eyes to Dumbledore's wrinkled face, he struggled with the flashback of memories that hit him like a tidal wave. Sam flying through the air and lying in a pool of her own blood, the shield shattering under the force of his power...<br>"Harry?" Shaking himself out of his reverie, he was astonished to see a look of pure sadness on the ancient wizard's face.

"I didn't get there at the beginning, but from what I saw when I arrived makes it likely that what they said is a complete _lie_," he recounted, putting so much emphasis on the word 'lie' that Dumbledore could fail to notice it. "I saw Sam standing in front of a crying first year, casting a shield charm to protect him from their spells. There was a shield around the 4, but I saw a few students trying to break through it. I-I was scared for Sam and I think I pushed my magic too much. All I know is that as I stopped one of the other students managed to destroy the shield. That's all I remember Sir," he answered making sure to overlap those memories with his occlumency shields, so that if he looked the Headmaster would only see those memories, making sure that he edited out his fight with Alfred and Ron and his sole destruction of Alfred's shield. Instead, he created slightly blurred students who appeared like they were attacking the shield. Sure enough, as he met the Headmaster's eyes he felt a strange tingling sensation in his head that was observing the memories. The sensation quickly vanished and Dumbledore slumped back in his chair, suddenly looking his age.  
>"Thank you, Harry. You may go." he gestured at the door and Harry promptly left, breathing a sigh of relief. As the sound of Harry's footsteps receded and then vanished altogether, the ancient headmaster gazed at his loyal phoenix Fawkes, who was sleeping on his perch.<br>"Fawkes, I believe I've made a grave mistake."

**[SPACE]**

**So what did you think? I promised that the next chapter would be up by Sunday, and I've kept my word. If you enjoyed this chapter please consider reviewing and favouring or following. **

**Till next time! **


	9. Chapter 9:secrets and conspiracies

**Hello and welcome to chapter 9! I wanted to let you know that after this chapter, I'll be moving on the events of the end of the year. This is because I do not believe anything of note happened between December(when this is set) and the fight between Harry and Quirrell.**

**Someone commented on chapter 6, with the fight between Sam and Ron and Alfred. Bear in mind that the idea of 'powerful' is relative and can be defined as stronger than usual. If someone has never trained with their full power, and has spent their life hiding it, how can one _not_**** be fatigued if they are exerting themselves? Furthermore, who is more skilled; an average first year, or a first year with years of advanced training? I'm tired of reading stories where Harry is the ultimate wizard and can't be beaten. It makes him an extremely boring character to write.  
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**Enjoy the chapter!**

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October and November passed in a blur for Harry. Weeks blurred into days, and life returned to its uneventful state. Harry was secretly relieved to be able to continue his life as a normal students, with nothing to worry about except friends, food, and homework. For once, Harry could joke and laugh with his friends, without worrying about the burden of keeping his 'incredible' power a secret.  
>Life began to look up two weeks later, when an old friend returned.<p>

Harry was sitting in the Great Hall, slowly spooning a bowl of porridge into his mouth, when Alex hit him on the shoulder. Turning to glare at him, Harry followed his gaze to the sight of a lone figure standing in the Hall that had caused the Hall's chatter to cease. Her head low to ignore the open-mouthed looks of awe coming from the other students, the figure slowly walked forwards. Her skin was slightly paler than usual, and she limped slightly, but otherwise Sam was fine. Climbing to his feet, Harry slowly walked towards her, a joyful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Just before he reached her, Sam raised her head, her eyes lighting up as Harry sped up and then stopped in front of her. For a moment he stood in front of her, before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a hug. Sam embraced Harry fiercely, as though she didn't want to ever let go. For a few minutes they stood like that until they were interrupted by a cough behind Harry. Turning around, he watched as Sam embraced Amy and Alex, the two girls looking as though they were about to burst into tears. A lone figure watched the four second years, an expression that could pass for sadness covering his face for a moment, but a moment all the same. As Tom approached the four, the expression on the figure's face vanished.  
>All of this Harry missed, allowing himself to feel serenity and true joy.<p>

Perhaps fate didn't hate Harry as much as he thought.

**[SPACE]**

With his friends returned to him, Harry barely noticed as the weeks slipped away from him. Before he knew it, it was the day before the Christmas holidays. With each of his friends going home for the holidays, Harry would be one of the few second years remaining. He knew that Alfred was staying until Christmas Eve, though Harry could not so much as fathom a guess why. His parents would spoil him even more than usual this Christmas, now that he'd managed to get onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Glumly lamenting on the idea that he would be spending the holidays with Alfred while his friends were gone for two weeks.

He spent the rest of the day talking, joking and playing card games with them.

**[SPACE]**

The sun shone through the windows of Ravenclaw tower, awakening Harry from his sleep. It took a few seconds for Harry to remember that it was Christmas Day, and as he climbed from his bed he was surprised by the sight of a small pile of presents on his bedside table. Pulling them towards himself, he began to unwrap. He'd gotten a box of chocolate frogs from Amy, 3 large packets of Bertie Botts' Ever Flavour Beans from Alex, a pile of defence books from Sam and a tiny circular package from Tom with a note attached. Opening the note, it simply said, "this looked like something that you should have. T." Slowly opening the package, he was amazed at what lay in side of it.

It was a ring. Gold and with a Phoenix and Dragon etched into it, the sun glinted off the ring, illuminating it. Most striking of all, however, was the red gem which glinted in the light The gem was at once hot and cold, as though Harry's hands could not quite detect it. As he turned it around in his fingers, he took note of the ancient archaic writing around it which Harry could not even begin to understand. Casting several disillusionment and protection charms on it, he re-wrapped it in the wrapping paper before depositing it in the bottom of his trunk. Climbing to his feet, he took notice of the time before leaving the room, realising that he was late for breakfast.

**[SPACE]**

Even though he'd seen it before, Harry still could not get used to the majesty of the Great Hall at Christmas time. The multiple white Christmas trees glimmered like they were covered in starlight. The tables had all been pushed together and covered in a golden tablecloth with crackers placed around the places, and the magical ceiling showed the falling of snowflakes. As he sat, he looked towards the main table where the teachers were obviously enjoying themselves. Dumbledore had exchanged his wizard's hat for a paper Christmas hat, and Mcgonagall's green witch's hat had been skewered due to her becoming tipsy. As he ate, he pulled crackers with the members of his house and could not help but enjoy himself. When he finally left the Great Hall, he had won a small board game of Wizards Chess, 2 paper Christmas hats, and a white mouse which he promptly let go once he'd checked that Filch's cat, Mrs Norris, wasn't in sight. He spent the rest of the day having snowball fights and playing board games with the other students until the sky darkened and the common room slowly emptied. Yawning, he doggedly climbed the stairs of Ravenclaw's tower where, full and tired, he collapsed onto his bed and quickly fell asleep.

Meanwhile, in a distant area in the castle, a professor in a turban was speaking to himself, occasionally whimpering and yelping in pain. For a monster was returning, and _nothing _would stand in its way.

**[SPACE]**

**So what did you guys think? I'm sorry if Harry and Sam's reunion was too short for your liking, but I was trying to write this in a few hours from scrap and I wanted to get it out today.**

**So the General Elections are tomorrow. The only advice that I can give those that are voting is that your choice is your choice. Do not be bullied into believing what others believe or by the propaganda. Choose whichever party you believe is right.  
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**Thanks so much for reading. Please review, fav and follow.**

**Cheerio! :)**


	10. Chapter 10:the confrontation

**Hello and welcome to chapter 10 of A Lost Child! Just as a reminder, this chapter will be the last of Second Year. After this I'm moving on to Third Year.  
>Thank you to all those who have reviewed, favourited and followed the story. :)<strong>

**Now, on with the chapter. Please enjoy and please consider favouriting, following or reviewing if you haven't already. :)**

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><p>Chapter 10:the confrontation<p>

Spring passed in a blur of exams, and soon June arrived. For Harry, he'd never felt such relief as he sat talking and joking with his friends by Hogwarts' lake, their exams finished and their only worry being their results. As he joked and laughed, all his fears and worries slipped to the back of his mind, suppressed by the calm sense of peace that he felt. Listening to an especially elaborate story of Alex's, he rested his head against the bark of the old oak tree next to the lake, and looked towards the school's back entrance. Frowning, he had to sit up to better understand what was happening at the entrance.

Alfred, Ron and Hermione were standing in front of Professor Mcgonagall, and Alfred appeared to be shouting at her about something before the trio stormed off. Subtly tilting his head so that he could observe his friends, he noticed that they were facing away from him, and so they wouldn't notice if he slipped away. Looking back at the school, he saw that Mcgonagall had also left her position at the entrance. Casting a strong disillusionment charm on himself, he also cast a silencing charm on his feet as he walked. As he passed the swimming and laughing kids, he nervously looked around, aware more than ever that his magic wasn't at its peak. As he reached the entrance hall, he realised that he had no idea where the trio could have. However, after a second's contemplation he remembered that Dumbledore had mentioned to the students to stay away from the third floor corridor. It didn't take a genius to work out that he had stored an extremely powerful magical artefact on it. As he ran up the staircase, it occurred to him that the only reason that a bookish person like Hermione would follow Alfred and Ron is because they believed that the artefact was under threat. With this in mind, Harry quickened his pace into a sprint.

It took him a few minutes to reach the door on the third corridor, and as he arrived he noticed that it was wide open. Entering, he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight that lay before him.

A giant three-headed dog stood in the middle of the room, barking madly at Harry as he jumped backwards against the wall to avoid one of its lunging heads. Pulling out his wand, he shot a random spell at the left head, where it hit the nearby harp, which released a few sounds. Immediately the dog's six eyes drooped before springing open again. An idea formed in Harry's head, and as the dog's barking began again, he conjured a hand-shaped rock which he levitated in front of the harp. As it began to play, Harry slipped past the drooping dog's heads to the small trapdoor behind it. Opening it, he dropped into the darkness below.

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><p>When the ground reached Harry, the first thing he was aware of in the darkness was how soft it was. Raising his wand, he cast 'lumos' and took in what he was standing on.<br>It looked like a giant mass of tendrils, all looping around each other. As he watched in horrified fascination, the tendrils around him slowly began to wind their way around him. As it crawled up his legs Harry's frantic mind centred on one name; devil's snare. As the tendrils wrapped around his stomach and began to suffocate, Harry managed to raise his wand and croak out, 'incendio.' At once, a jet of orange flame shot out and coated the devil's snare, burning several of the tendrils away before they could retreat. With nothing holding him up, Harry fell to the ground below with a painful thud. Groaning, he stretched out his back as he stood. "Note to self," he thought. "Cast a slowing charm next time you plan to fall down a hole." Groaning, he stumbled along towards the next puzzle.

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><p>The third puzzle was full of flying, winged keys. As he looked around the immense room, he saw a particularly battered key slowly flying around. As he made towards it, however, he noticed that the the door to the next room was already open. With one last look behind him to ensure that there was nothing behind him, he pushed on into the next room.<p>

The next room was completely unexpected. A giant board was located in the middle of the room. On the two back rows of the board, life-sized chess pieces stood, as though they were waiting for the other to move. Sighing, he noticed an unconscious Ron in the corner, with a seemingly exhausted Hermione sitting next to him. A small stream of blood was slowly oozing from a nasty cut on Ron's head, and if he didn't get help soon he would bleed to death. Casting a sleeping charm on Hermione, he crouched next to Ron and whispered a healing charm, allowing his magic to feed the spell and stop the flow of blood. Climbing to his feet, he began to walk towards the open door at the far end of the room, completely ignoring the chess pieces that stood in his way.

It was that arrogant dismissal of the pieces that nearly cost him his life, as the king lashed out at him with his sword. Yelping in surprise, he ducked the blade. Angered, Raising his wand, he cried out 'reducto' and watched as the powerful blasting charm shattered the king and the two pieces on either side of him. As the rest of the pieces turned towards him, he dashed through the space left by the now destroyed pieces and reached the door as the pieces reached the space that he'd ran through. As he entered, he recoiled at the vicious smell that reached him. Turning to face the room's occupant, he was shocked to notice that the mountain troll in the middle of the room was unconscious with a head injury that was dripping green blood. Covering his nose, he advanced into the next room.

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><p>An array of potions stood on pedestals. As Harry moved closer, a wall of purple flame sprung from behind him, blocking the way back. Noticing the two missing potions, he kicked one of the pedestals in anger. "Stupid, stupid Harry!" He thought. "Now how are you going to get through?" In experimentation, he cast 'aguamenti' on the fire in front of him, and as he watched in despair the water evaporated before it reached the fire. Furious, he began to release his power in frustration. Here he was, with a wall of fire in his way and a wall of fire behind him, and he wasn't smart enough to think of a way past it! However, as he watched the power he was releasing flowed into the purple fire, and it began to wane and shrink. An idea formed in Harry's head, and he released another jet of water, this time one which was coated in his magic. As he watched in surprise and delight, the fire shrank into nothingness. Warily poking his foot over the gap where the fire had been, he forced himself onwards into the final room.<p>

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><p>The contents of this room were like no other that Harry had seen. The flames on the torches burnt brightly, but the room still appeared to be covered in a layer of darkness. Alfred was wrapped in chains in the middle of the room, and Quirrell was standing by a giant mirror with strange runes carved into it. He appeared to be talking to himself, yet something was talking back. Slowly creeping into the room, he increased the intensity of his disillusionment charm, so that he was truly invisible for all intents and he watched, Quirrell began to unwind the ridiculous turban around his head. As it came away from his head and Alfred screamed, Harry understood why he never removed it.<p>

A second face was implanted in the back of his head. Grey and almost shapeless of face, its most disturbing and eerie feature were its crimson red eyes, which glinted malevolently in the darkness. As Harry watched with increasing nausea, its mouth widened into something resembling a smile, and it began to talk.  
>"Alfred Potter. Long have I waited the day where I would meet you again." Harry gulped and began to draw his power to him, imagining it as a big ball of power.<br>"Wh-who a-are yo-you?' Alfred asked, his terror evident in his voice. It was clearly the wrong thing to ask, for Lord Voldemort hissed in anger.  
>"You do not recognise Lord Voldemort, idiot boy?" The hideous face responded, it's crimson eyes seemingly increasing in ferocity. "You do not recognise the most powerful dark wizard of all time? Quirrell, he is more of a fool than you told me. Now Potter, you will retrieve the stone and give it to me, or I will make you suffer."<br>At this, a strange confidence appeared to overtake Alfred, and he lost the tremor in his voice. "If you're so powerful, why don't you get it for yourself?" The face laughed maniacally. "So be it. I was going to let you live, but it seems your ignorance and your ego is too large. Quirrell, kill him."

As Quirrell raised his wand, Harry released a small portion of his magic, shattering the chains holding Alfred, who dived out of the way as a flash of green light illuminated the spot that he'd been standing in. As Alfred pulled out his wand and shot off several random spells, Quirrell switched from using killing curses to a mixture of unforgivables and stunners. With the monstrous face screaming "kill him, Quirrell, kill him" one of Quirrell's spells were lucky, connecting with Alfred's back, causing him to collapse to the ground. As Quirrell bent over Alfred to point his wand at his face, Harry released a powerful blast of wind, knocking him onto Alfred's stirring body. Screaming, Quirrell rolled off of him, covering his right hand. As Alfred raised his hand and stared at Quirrell, he reached out and planted his hands on the sides of Quirrell's/Voldemort's head, who continued to scream in agony. As Quirrell's face crumbled, Harry subtly fed Alfred some of his power, unknowingly boosting the strength of whatever it was that Alfred was doing. As Quirrell's face crumbled and turned to dust, Voldemort's spirit burst out of its body and collided with Alfred, sending him flying backwards to collapse in a crumpled heap close to the chamber's entrance.

At last, Harry was the only conscious survivor. Walking over towards the mirror, he gazed into it. An image was playing out on the surface. Harry stood there with his parents. However, they weren't ignoring each other or fighting, they were smiling joyfully at each other. Shaking himself from the image, he realised that he was crying. Brushing away the tears impatiently, he heard movement on the steps. Suddenly realising the danger of being caught here, Harry quickly thought of his bed in the dorm room. As he teleported away, Dumbledore, Mcgonagall and Snape entered the room, where they stopped in shock before rushing to Alfred's aid. As Dumbledore began to treat the boy, he realised that Alfred did not possess the Philosopher's stone.

Meanwhile in a giant four-poster bed in the Ravenclaw dorm room, a twelve year old boy lay fast asleep, his face glistening with shed tears.

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><p><strong>Annnnd that's the first year done! Next chapter will just have a brief summary of the train journey back and then the rest of that chapter will be centred around the aftermath of the events that occurred in this chapter.<strong>

**Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have any suggestions for the story, let me know.  
>If you enjoyed, please consider reviewingfollowing/favouriting. :)**

**Anyway, that's all for now.  
>Cheerio!<strong>


	11. Chapter 11:repercussions

**Hello and welcome to chapter 11 of The Lost Child! This chapter officially marks the end of the first year.  
>As a side note, I want to thank you all for the support that you have given me over the course of the previous chapters.<strong>

**I'm afraid I have some bad news regarding this story; I won't be able to update for another 3 or 4 weeks. The main reason as to why is because I have my exams coming up and I really need to revise for them. However, when I come back I promise that I will post an extra long chapter for you to read. **

**On a lighter note, I want to ask your opinion on my future plans for this story. I am tempted to change how Harry's time at Hogwarts is going to be spent. Originally, I was going to do it from Alfred's first year (Harry's third year) to Alfred's fifth year (Harry's seventh year). However, I did not take into account how much that limits me and how much it reduces my ability to add in another plot. Therefore, I am contemplating whether I should have something happen to Harry so that he can't go to Hogwarts for the entirety of each year. **

**If you agree with what I'm considering, or if you want it to be like I originally intended it to be, please PM me and let me know.  
>Anyway, on with the story! Enjoy and please consider favouritingfollowing/reviewing.  
><strong>

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><p>Chapter 11:repercussions<p>

It was the morning of the 30th of June and the school seemed to be full of students moving around while they waited for the Hogwarts Express to arrive. Harry and his friends were all sitting together at the Ravenclaw table eating, their trunks packed and ready. The few days between the events with the philosopher's stone and today had been uneventful. Gryffindor had won the house cup after Dumbledore added some last minute points to it for Alfred, Ron and Hermione. Despite his disgust at how his brother was preening himself beneath the attention he couldn't help but feel glad that Slytherin hadn't won the house cup for the 7th year running. His friends had noticed that he'd disappeared from his seat against the oak tree, and he'd had to lie, telling them that he was exhausted after the exams. Thankfully, they'd all believed him, yet he'd noticed Tom directing a questioning glance at him.

Sighing he pushed his bowl away as Professor Flitwick began walking down the table, handing out the 'no magic' notes as he went. Taking his, he pushed it into his robe's right pocket. As he withdrew his hand from his pocket, the professors indicated that the students should make their way to the train. Climbing to his feet, he pulled his trunk along. The moment he left the school, it felt like something important had been stripped from his heart. Shaking himself from his reverie, he followed his friends onto the carriage.

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><p>The ride to the Express was uneventful, to say the least. While his friends spent the trip down talking and comparing their grades, Harry just rested his head against the back of the carriage and became lost in his own thoughts. His grades had been adequate, neither amazing nor awful. The majority of his grades were A's and E's, with a O in Charms and Transfiguration. These were the only subjects that he didn't have to hide his potential in, due to the teachers for each being too perceptive for him to hide a lot of his true power from like he did in his other subjects. He was glad that Potions didn't require magic, or he'd probably have already been found out.<p>

As the carriage halted outside the train and as he and his friends entered an empty compartment, he couldn't help but reflect darkly on the fact that his parents would be so _proud _of their _heroic_ spoilt son, who stopped Voldemort from returning. Pretending to take an interest in Alex and Amy's game of Exploding Snap, he laughed as the two argued over who was winning.

'I may not have a family that cares about me,' he thought. But at least my friends do.'

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><p>At last, they arrived at King's Cross station. As they waited to leave in twos and threes, Harry was surprised when Amy and Sam hugged him.<br>"My ribs, my ribs!" He croaked, trying to feebly push off the two, who finally got the message and backed off. Turning, he shook hands with Tom, whom he knew hated things like hugs-and Alex.  
>"I'll see you on the 20th August?" He asked, smiling at them as he prepared to leave. After they agreed Harry turned towards the barrier and, steeling himself, walked through. As he made his way to the place where his parents were already fussing over his brother, he hid his emotions behind an occlumency shield and adopted a cold expression. With the two adults barely acknowledging him, the four left the station, where James grabbed Alfred's arm and Lilly grabbed Harry's as they apparated to Potter Manor.<p>

As soon as he could, he pulled away from Lilly, making his way towards the staircase.  
>"Harry, wait!" Sighing, he turned to see Lilly standing in front of him, smiling warmly. Harry wasn't fooled.<br>"What?" He asked before beginning to climbing the stairs.  
>"Harry!" Rolling his eyes, he turning to face her again, raising his eyebrow as if to say 'what?'<br>"I-I was wondering what you wanted for dinner?" She asked, her smile faltering for the first time. For a moment Harry pretended to consider, before turning around and continuing up the stairs. Lilly stood staring after him for a few moments, her eyes filling with tears. At the sound of her youngest son laughing, she turned around towards the sound, hiding her tears behind a fake smile.

Meanwhile, her eldest son sat on his bed in his bedroom, rolling a small ruby stone between his fingers.

And the countdown began.

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><p><strong>And that's the end of the chapter! I hoped you enjoyed the chapter and consider reviewing, favouriting and following.<br>****That's all for now!  
><strong>**Cheerio!**


	12. Chapter 12:Life goes on

**Hello and welcome to chapter 12! I'm sorry for my absence, the last few weeks have been very busy for me (see chapter 11) but now I'm backed and with an extra long chapter as promised. Enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter 12:Life goes on...<p>

It's 12PM and the Potter Manor is silent. The starless sky has darkened to the colour of black ink, as an ominous full moon hangs in the sky, casting slivers of moonlight over the pitch black mansion below. In the smallest room on the uppermost floor, Harry Potter shivers and turns over in a troubled sleep. Occasionally, a gasp of despair or fear slips from his unconscious lips, punctuating the silent and still air that lies within the mansion. If he was not so distressed by whatever horrors that lie within his disturbing dreams, perhaps he would sense the cloaked and hooded figure standing over him.

Little of the intruder's form can be distinguished, save for the smirk that is thrown into relief each time the moonlight passes over its face. As it raises a pale, scarred hand towards the helpless boy, something appears to cause the figure to pause. Making a sound akin to a sigh of disappointment, it lowers its hand, turning its back on the boy. Instead, it reaches towards the small ruby stone lying close to his bed. As the fingers of one of its hands touch the outer surface of the stone a powerful blast of magic is released, sending the figure hurtling backwards to collide painfully with one of the walls adjacent to the door. Stunned, the figure swiftly recovers and climbs to its feet, only to be met by the glowing image of the boy who was sleeping mere moments ago. As the figure's eyes widen in surprise, the eldest Potter child releases a powerful orb of glowing energy at his foe, who barely avoids the attack by diving to the side. As Harry attempts the same attack again, the figure makes its move. No sooner has the blast been generated by the boy than the figure conjures a reflective wall of pure energy, which absorbs the attack before assaulting the boy with a blast twice as powerful, sending him into the wall a small distance behind him, to collapse in a crumpled heap.

With its opponent temporarily dealt with the figure turns its attention to the ruby stone that has slipped from its opponent's fingers and lies close to his feet. Stooping to pick it up, the cloaked figure notices the sound of footsteps on the hallway behind him. Turning to the outer wall of the room, the mysterious and powerful figure blasts a hole in it, before jumping through as Lily and James run into the room, their eyes immediately drawn to the hole in the wall and the unconscious Potter boy slumped a short distance away from it. As the pair run to the child and began to cast healing charms on him, they failed to notice the hooded figure responsible for the attack running to the edge of the Potter's land, before apparating away.

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><p>"Is he ok?"<br>"Shh! I think he's waking up. Harry?" A woman's voice called from behind the wall of darkness in front of his eyes. As he opened his eyes, he winced in pain at the painful throb at the back of his head, causing his head to swim. Turning to the side he dry-retched, leaning back to rest heavily against the wall once his stomach had settled, his bleary eyes focused on the sight of his parents kneeling in front of him, with a concerned expression on each of their faces.

"Harry, are you ok?" Lily asked, reaching forwards to lay a hand on his right arm. In a moment of weakness, Harry nearly unburdened himself to his parents and told them everything. However, all of the abuse and neglect over the last 13 years sealed the cracks in the wall that he's put between the outside world and himself, and he shook off her hand, absent-mindedly shaking off her hand. Carefully climbing to his feet, he coldly stared at his parents.  
>"I'm fine", he answered, gingerly taking a step towards his bed. Suddenly, all of the events involving the attack hit him like a tidal wave, and he realised with a sense of panic that the Stone had gone. Casting out his magic, he couldn't sense it anywhere in the manor. As he sank heavily onto his bed, he turned over onto his side and waited for his parents to slip out of the room and turn off the light. Despite his racing thoughts, the clutches of sleep clung to him no matter how hard he tried to resist, and soon, his eyes closed and he drifted into a troubled sleep.<p>

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><p>Dawn seemed to emerge only minutes later. Sighing, Harry carefully rose to a standing position before kneeling in front of the still gaping hole in his window wall. As he placed his hands on each side of the hole, he allowed his magic to flow through until it detected the remnants of magic left by his attacker. Wrapping his magic around the traces, he infused the wall with his attacker's magic, preserving it until he removed it. Satisfied that the mystery of the figure would hold for now, he broke away from the wall in order to dress.<p>

As he dressed however, more questions emerged which refused to leave him alone. How did it discover the Philosopher's Stone? How did it know he had it? How did it use wandless magic? Most urgently of all; How was it able to bypass the mansion's shields and shrug off his attacks and charms like they were nothing? Frustrated with his inability to answer any of these questions, he slowly left his room and began walking down the flight of stairs leading to the lower floor, when the sound of voices gave him pause. Reaching out with his magic, he was able to pick up the presence of a powerful sorcerer, which Harry was sure could only belong to Dumbledore. Continuing his walk down the stairs, he reached the hallway below and tried to walk past, when he was called back by the professor himself.  
>"Mr Potter, can you come in here please?" Sighing quietly, he retraced his steps back to the doorway he'd just passed and raised his eyebrows at the smiling elderly wizard inside, indicating that Dumbledore had his full attention.<br>"Harry, your mother and father have just been explaining to me that you were attacked last night," the elderly wizard prompted, smiling gently. Harry wasn't fooled.  
>"Yes, Sir," he answered coldly. Too coldly, judging by the headmaster's surprised expression, one he swiftly covered.<br>"Would you mind telling me what you remember?" Dumbledore asked, his gentle tone taking on a slightly business-like edge. Once again, Harry raised his occlumency shields to reflect the forged memories that he was about to recount. Lowering his eyes as if ashamed, Harry focused instead upon the vast white beard that hung from the old wizard's beard.  
>"I woke up to find a cloaked man standing over me," Harry lied, adding a slight shake to his voice to make the lie more believable. "I think that he's mistook me for Alfred, because he was ranting about You-Know-Who returning. I tried to get away but he hit me with some spell. That's all I remember, Sir." He was aware of the Headmaster gazing at him for a few more moments, before nodding his ancient head and rising to his feet.<br>"Thank you, Harry. Rest assured that I will get to the bottom of this." Harry nodded, still refusing to meet Dumbledore's eyes. "I believe that it's time for me to take my leave. Lily, James," he nodded at each of them in turn, before crossing to the fireplace and flooing away.

As soon as he left, Harry left the room, despite his mother's obvious desire to talk to him. In contrast, James passed Harry and returned to Alfred, whom Harry could hear shouting downstairs. Following his father as far as the kitchen, Harry placed some bread in the toaster and sat down at the long table in the middle of the kitchen to wait. As he waited, he retreated into his own mind to begin solving the mystery of whoever was behind the attack. Voldemort was the most likely candidate, yet Harry didn't believe that he would be so confident while still in a spiritual form, even if he _was_ possessing someone. For a mad second he even considered Dumbledore before swiftly dismissing the notion. No, Dumbledore would not stoop to the murder of an insignificant child, even if he _was_ manipulative. As he considered several suspects, the loud 'pop' of the toaster caused him to jump out of his seat in shock. Laughing weakly at his paranoia, he removed his toast and headed back to his room, ignoring the staring eyes of his family as he passed.

At this point, Harry could never guess at the importance of the attack that had just occurred, nor at the identity of his attacker, as the clock carries on ticking away...

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><p><strong>And that's it! I hope this chapter was as good as promised, and that you enjoyed. With the Summer Holidays approaching I'll be able to write even more chapters. =)<strong>

**Thanks for reading and please consider reviewing and favouriting/following.**

**Cheerio!**


	13. Chapter 13:Preparations

**Hello and welcome to chapter 13. I know i haven't updated in a long time which I am truly sorry about. **

**Before this chapter starts though I want to address something. ****When I got back from my holiday I read through the reviews for this story and I noticed that several reviews had comments like "your Harry is weak", "he falls unconscious in every fight", etc.**

**First, Harry has only been in two fights so far. The first he fell unconscious due to a failure to maintain his skill with his powers. Therefore, he swiftly exhausted himself and fell into a coma in order to replenish the magic that he'd expended. ****The other fight also took place when he was not at his peak and was fighting a skilled opponent.**

**Second, Harry is not a god. He is a 13 year old boy whose body is not strong enough to support his full power yet. Therefore, of course he's not going to best an older and therefore more experienced fighter (the hooded figure) or a boy who receives regular tuition from Dumbledore himself.**

**I understand that you are trying to help but negative comments that do not offer suggestions fail to help me improve. **

**Phew! On with the chapter!**

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><p>Chapter 13:Preparation<p>

The crisp autumn air of Diagon Alley hit Harry's face like a breath of life as he stepped out from the Leaky Cauldron's door. Shivering slightly, he pulled his coat further over his body. It was August the 27th, 4 days from the start of the new term. Realising that he was low on ink, he had decided to travel to the Cauldron today, as it got him away from his 'family'. As usual, the familiar scent of magic caused his body to tingle. Pulling his mind back to the tasks at hand, he made his way from shop to shop, his already light bag of coins' feeble jingling decreasing following each visit.

As he wearily took a seat at one of the tables outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, he observed the crowds of people passing as he slowly ate his chocolate delight ice cream. After a few minutes, he noticed that each person had an aura surrounding them, with some having a fainter aura than others. Recalling his experience from last year **(A.N:Chapter 5)**, he traced the thread of magic that was detecting these auras back to its source, and smothered it with his power. Disturbed, he hurriedly finished his ice cream before rising to his feet and took a walk down the Diagon Alley, coming to a stop before a shop that emanated a ancient form of power, which no one other than him seemed to notice. Warily casting a silent shield around himself, he pushed through the door and entered.

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><p>Despite the light that streamed through the windows, the shop was eerily dark, as though it swallowed any light that passed through it. Even his lumos charm failed to brighten up the darkness. Despite the inner sense of foreboding that tugged at his limbs and urged him to leave, he took several steps forward and, taking a breath, he fed more of his power through the lumos charm, until its glow was closer in brightness to a nova than a simple charm. Yet even with the blinding glow of his charm, he could barely read the names of the books on the shelf. One in particular caught his eye. picking it up, he read aloud its name, "The lost arts of magic." Glancing around, he picked up another book which read, "A guide to ancient magic." Finally, he picked up a third book which read, "Wandless magic: The fabled gift."<p>

As he cast his gaze around, he noticed that he was not alone. Behind the counter still a tall, skeletal man. The man's skin was the colour of chalk, save for the bloody circles that surrounded his eyes, which were the colour of amethyst. Slowly approaching the counter, Harry stared at the mysterious man.  
>"Do you own this shop?" Harry asked warily. The figure made no sign that he understood at first, but after a few seconds one of his hands raised in a beckoning gesture. Placing his last few galleons into the man's outstretched hand, he accidentally brushed the tips of his fingers against the hand's palm.<p>

At once, the figure changed. Black smoke rose from his body, and his purple eyes glowed with an impossible light. Hissing, the man lunged at Harry, who only managed to dodge backwards at the last second. Despite this, he failed to dodge the blast that was released from the man's other hand, which sent him flying backwards into the window, which somehow did not shatter. Wincing, he was defenceless as the man raised his hand once more. Yet the man did not strike. Instead a gravelly voice emerged from him, even though his mouth did not move.

"You should not have come here, child," the voice hissed, the hatred within it almost palpable. "You are nothing more than a flicker of light in a sea of shadows." Gasping, he realised that he had only felt such power before. This was the person who had attacked him in his room to get the Stone! Drawing his power to him, he released a blast of power at the figure, who almost casually raised his hand to knock it back at him. Yet Harry had learnt his lesson from last time. Opening himself fully to his power, he felt his power increase tenfold. With a mere thought, the power that arced towards him dissipated into nothingness. Raising himself to his feet, he raised his hands and sent arcs of red and gold lightning at his foe, the force of which caused the ground to tremble. Though his attacker was able to shield himself, Harry could sense him faltering under the relentless wave of power and pressed his advantage, ramping up the power of the bolts until it tore through his attacker's shields and threw him backwards to land in a smoking heap. As Harry approached him, however, he noticed that the man was shaking with laughter.

"At last, you have released your power, child," the voice gloated. "Yet you seem to believe that you have won something here. You have not. This man is but a willing vessel. He means nothing to me." Struggling to his feet, the figure took a few staggering steps towards Harry before falling at his feet. "This-this victory means nothing," the voice declared, glowing with purple energy.  
>"Perhaps, but at least I know that I can defeat you," Harry growled, raising his glowing hand to blast the-the <em>disease<em> into dust.  
>"This follower of mine was weak. His power pales in comparison to my own. If you could barely defeat him, how could you possibly hope to defeat me?" Without waiting for a response, the figure turned to dust. Realising that there was nothing left for him here, Harry scooped up the coins that he'd used and walked quickly to the door, unable to escape the feeling that the shadows were stalking him.<p>

Leaving the shop, he willed his new-found power to withdraw. As it left, he was hit by the pain of his injuries. Limping slightly, he cast a disillusionment charm on himself before making his way back to the Leaky Cauldron and flooing home. Upon arriving, he staggered up the stairs to his room, hid the books and bag of supplies for the school year under his bed before collapsing on his bed and entering a healing trance.

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><p>A few thousand miles away, a hooded figure sat on his throne, twirling a blood red stone between his fingers and smiling maniacally.<br>"Valus!" The figure called, rising to his feet and watching arrogantly as a tall, blond-haired man entered and fell to one knee in front of him.  
>"You summoned, Master?" Valus inquired, not daring to raise his eyes above the floor.<br>"Begin the preparations. The time grows near," the malevolent figure ordered.

For the moment drew near, when all would bow, or_ die_.

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><p><strong>And that's it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please consider reviewingfollowing/favouriting. **

**That's all from me for now, cheerio!**


	14. Chapter 14:Fourth year

**Hello and welcome to chapter 14 of The Lost Child! I'm SO sorry about how long it's been.**

**I'm afraid with my studies and revision *sob* updates to this story will be a bit...random.**

**Oh, one more warning! This chapter is darker than usual but I did my best to lighten it up further on.**

**Anyway, please enjoy and review! =)**

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><p>Chapter 14:fourth year<p>

The 1st of September was an overcast day, which failed to improve the eldest Potter child's mood, as he sat on the Hogwarts Express. Throughout the morning he'd been forced to listen to the prattle of his parents as they fussed over the imbecile, who still doesn't realise that preening himself makes him look like even more of an idiot than usual.

Sighing, Harry rested his head against the cool wood of the cabin and rubbed his bloodshot eyes. He was so _tired_. Ever since the encounter in the shop his dreams had been growing steadily worse. Just last night, he'd watched helplessly as hooded figures butchered the students and left their bodies in heaps like a bag of rubbish, their crimson blood staining the ancient grounds. He'd then be forced to watch as the animals tortured and butchered the first and second year students, before brutally breaking their necks with magic and casting their lifeless bodies aside. With his terribly vivid dreams and the aching headache that now afflicted him, he could only get a few hours sleep every night. This left him more irritable and snappish than usual.

Even the arrival of his friends didn't do much to improve his mood. They spent most of the journey talking about the upcoming lessons, and the new DADA teacher.  
>"Did you hear about the new DADA teacher?" Amy asked eagerly, sitting further upright. Alex rolled his eyes.<br>"Yeah, you've only told us about 10 times," he answer dryly, before yelping when Amy slapped him across the arm. "I was joking!"  
>"<em>Anyway," <em>Amy continued, glaring darkly at Alex. "I can't wait for Lockhart's lessons. Have any of you read his books?" At this all of the compartment's occupants, even Tom, looked at her incredulously. "What?" She asked.  
>"Nothing," Harry answered, surprised. "It's just-you reading outside of school..."<br>I read all the time!" Amy exclaimed, scowling. Chuckling, Harry turned to look out of the window.  
>"If you say so," he replied. Giving up, Amy turned to Samantha.<br>"You must have read them. You have, haven't you?" Amy added, raising her eyebrows when Sam didn't answer.  
>"She probably values her eyes," Alex muttered, disguising it as a cough when Amy glared murderously at him. Rolling his eyes and sighing, Harry rested his head against the window, and stared at the platform as the train stopped.<br>"Merlin's beard..."

The platform outside Hogwarts was even more chaotic than last year. As Harry and the other fourth years walked towards the carriages, they had to navigate their way through the crowd of First years going towards the boats, and the confused Second years who were just walking around in circles. Pulling himself and his suitcase into one of the carriages, he helped up Sam - who smiled in thanks - and Tom, who just raised an eyebrow before pulling himself up gracefully without help. While the carriages slowly proceeded up the path towards the school, he listened wearily to Alex and Amy's argument about whether Lockhart is a fraud and tried to avoid Tom's attempts to make eye contact, which he covered by striking up a conversation with Sam about her summer holiday. Harry was mulling over Tom's behaviour. He'd been trying to make eye contact with Harry for the entire journey, and now he was just staring at him. The fact that he didn't know why was starting to irritate him. Choosing to disregard it for now, Harry shook himself and grabbed his trunk as the carriage came to a halt outside the school.

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><p>No matter how many times he saw it, Harry didn't think he'd ever get used to the sight of the Great Hall in all its splendour. Directing his gaze towards the staff table, he lamented that he couldn't say the same about the staff. Snape was pointedly ignoring Lockhart, who was probably trying to boast about his "achievements" with ridiculous hand motions. Rolling his eyes, he sat at the Ravenclaw between Amy and another girl called Cho, who blushed and turned away when he looked at her. Rolling his eyes, he turned to look at the Great Hall's doors as they swung open with an ominous boom and the First Years, led by Mcgonagall, entered the hall and lined up in front of the weathered old hat that lay on the stool in the middle of the hall. Paying only the slightest attention to the sorting, he took advantage of the distraction to look around at the other tables. Alfred, Ron and a bushy-haired girl were muttering to each other and shooting glances at the first years. Sweeping his gaze across the Staff, he noticed that Dumbledore, Mcgonagall, Snape and Flitwick were staring at him, though they looked away as soon as they realised he noticed them staring at him.<p>

Finally, the sorting ended. The only name that Harry recognised was a ginger haired girl's surname, that of Weasley. 'Great,' he thought to himself. 'Another Weasley to put up with.' Turning his attention to the food that suddenly appeared on the table, he piled food onto his plate while he listened to the table's conversation about Quidditch and revision. Scooping up a spoonful of peas, Harry chewed them slowly as he contemplated the reason for the teacher's behaviour. There was no way that they could know the truth about his power and skill-could they? For the first time since his arrival at the school, Harry began to doubt his concealment skills. If they weren't strong enough to hide his true nature, then how could he expect to stay hidden? The panic at this thought was almost knee-buckling, and Harry noticed that several of the peas on his plate were rippling, as if they were about to explode. Taking a deep breath, Harry concentrated on his occlumency training and allowed his magic to pass through him, directing it into the ground so that it could be absorbed without any obvious signs.

Barely suppressing a sigh of relief, he reached for a chicken drumstick, when they vanished with a pop and was replaced with a series of deserts. Taking a slice of treacle tart, he slowly ate it as he listened with interest to the conversation about the new teachers this year.

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><p>Finally, the feast ended and the students were allowed to leave. Climbing into his bed, Harry began the long and tiring task of rebuilding his magical defenses. After the fights of last year, his defenses had been reduced to the point that they could barely stop a weak disarming spell. Imagining the shield as a cocoon, he imagined it coiling around his body, the thick walls wrapping tightly around him. As he finished the ritual, Harry opened his eyes to the light of early dawn. Feeling the fatigue of the ritual taking effect, he curled into a ball and fell into a hopefully dreamless sleep.<p>

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><p><strong>Aaaannnndddd that's the end of the chapter! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and it made up for my absence (sorry once again).<strong>

**I might not be able to update for a while because this year is my exam year =(. I enjoy writing this story and wish that it wasn't like that. ='(**

**But, you can make it better by reviewing! Tell me what you thought, what you want to see in the future, and what you believe the reason was behind the teachers staring at Harry. *Wink***

**Thank you so much for reading this chapter.**

**Cheerio! =)**


	15. Chapter 15:Lockhart

**Hello readers! Welcome to chapter 15! I managed to find some free time in order to write this chapter. It's hard to believe it's been exactly one year since this story began...wow!**

**Just a heads-up, for anyone who is curious as to Harry's backstory, I will be writing a chapter regarding his origins after this one. I'm sorry it's taken so long, but I haven't been comfortable with doing that until now.**

**Oh, and for those who want a love interest for Harry, there's a poll on my profile page with a selection of people. There's also a "none" and "other" option. Please vote.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter 15: Lockhart<p>

Harry sighed as Flitwick handed him his timetable. He had double DADA first, then Herbology, then Potions. Grumpily dumping his timetable on the table beside his porridge, his sullenly spooned his breakfast into his mouth. He'd woken up hoping that he'd have an easy day. 'Oh, how wrong I was,' Harry thought blackly. However, he figured he couldn't complain. Last night had been the first uninterrupted sleep he'd had in weeks. Still, the tiredness plagued him relentlessly, always just one step behind, ready to pounce and ensnare him once more. It secretly scared him. If he was constantly tired, how could he hope to protect his secrets from the professors, especially Dumbledore?

Sighing, he allowed his spoon to clatter into his bowl. Grabbing his timetable, he walked out of the Great Hall and up the stairs towards the Ravenclaw tower to get his bag. Giving the password for entrance, he climbed through and walked up the stairs to the Fourth-years' dorm. Upon entering, he stopped in surprise at the sight of Sam standing beside his bed, looking out of the window next to his bed.  
>"Sam? What's wrong?" Harry asked. This was the first time he'd seen her in the boy's dormitory.<br>"We need to talk," Sam told him, still looking out of the window.  
>"Uh, sure. What about?" At this, Sam turned to face Harry, her mouth drawn into a grim line. Stepping forwards until she was right in front of him, she looked up and held his eye.<br>"Harry, what's wrong with you?" Sam ask harshly, the emotion in her tone startling the Potter child. "You've been really moody and tired for almost TWO TERMS." Surprised, Harry could only gape at her for a few minutes as she stared at him in frustration before rolling her eyes and pushing past him. As she reached the entrance to the dorm, she paused in her steps and looked back one final time at Harry.  
>"You can't hide the truth from me, Harry. Not now, and not ever again." And with that, she left.<p>

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><p>Gilderoy Lockhart was far from a humble man. Even as he walked into the classroom, he wore that infuriating smile. It's as if it's permanently attached to his face, Harry thought, rolling his eyes as Lockhart winked at the class. Sighing, he leaned back in his seat as he waited for this-this <em>peacock<em> to teach. As it became clear that the idiot was more interested in pumping himself up than actually help, Harry reached into his bag and pulled out one of Lockhart's books, flipping through it idly, he stopped after a few pages after realising that there was nothing in there. No magic. No instruction. Just a series of Lockhart's stories. Tossing it back into his bag, Harry made the mistake of catching Lockhart's eye.  
>"Ah! The eldest Potter! Barry, isn't it?" Lockhart exclaimed, beaming like an idiot. Meeting his eye, Harry tried to convey just how much he despised the wizard through holding the elder man's eye. Lockhart seemed taken aback at this, and Harry relaxed.<br>"Harry, sir," he corrected the wizard watching as the wizard swallowed before regaining his composure.  
>"Ah, of course! Forgive me, it's difficult to distinguish between my many fans at times," he chuckled nervously, moving away from Harry. "Now, I thought I'd start you off by testing your knowledge! You have 50 minutes to answer the questions on the paper in front of you. Begin!"<p>

Sighing, Harry turned over the paper and read the first question: 'What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?' Flipping through the paper in disbelief, Harry noticed that every single question related to Lockhart. Raising his hand, he waited impatiently for Lockhart to pretend he couldn't see Harry before reluctantly acknowledging him.  
>"Yes Mr Potter? What is it?" Lockhart sighed, as if simply asking that question took a great deal of effort.<br>"Sir, not one of these questions is about magic," Harry replied, holding the paper above his head.  
>"Your point, Mr Potter?" Wrestling with the urge to curse the man, Harry tossed the paper back on his desk.<br>"Sir, this doesn't help me in any way. Why should I answer a paper that has nothing to do with my education?" After each word, Lockhart's smile slipped slightly until it changed into a frown.  
>"Mr Potter, if you have an issue with my teaching methods, there's the door," Lockhart answered, pointing idly at the door. Feeling everyone's eyes on him, Harry's face began to redden in anger. Seemingly taking Harry's silence as a "no", Lockhart smiled triumphantly. "Now please, answer. The. Paper." Pulling the paper towards him, he glanced at it for a few moments before pushing it away from him. For the rest of the lesson, he just sat with his arms crossed glaring at Lockhart, ignoring the looks his classmates gave him.<p>

As he walked towards the Great Hall for dinner later on, he was surprised when a hand was laid on his arm. Turning to the hand's owner, he smiled at Sam, who didn't smile back.  
>"You. Me. Talk now." That was all she said before she pulled him towards an empty classroom, closing the door behind them. Turning to face him, she folded her arms and stared at him. After a few minutes, Harry became restless and broke the silence with a smirk and raised eyebrow.<br>"Did you bring me here just to stare at me?" Harry teased, his smirk growing as Sam blushed before somewhat regaining her composure. As she opened her mouth, however, the classroom door opened and Professor Flitwick walked in.  
>"Ah, Mr Potter! I thought I saw you come in here. Forgive me Miss Smith but could I have a word with Harry, please?" Flitwick squeaked, looking expectantly at Sam, who nodded reluctantly. Giving Harry a look that clearly told him that this wasn't over, she left. Once the door closed, Flitwick's warm smile vanished as he turned to Harry before beckoning at the chairs. Taking a seat at one of the desks, he turned to face Harry, who remained standing.<br>"Now Mr potter", he said seriously, his eyes making Harry feel as if he was being x-rayed. "Perhaps you could tell me what happened with Professor Lockhart today." Sighing, Harry took a seat at the adjacent desk.  
>"There's not much to it, Professor", he answered, turning to look at the shorter man. "He gave us a pointless paper that had nothing to do with the subject, so I told him what I thought. That's all." Flitwick nodded knowingly.<br>"Yes, I believe I understand where you are coming from, Harry", he replied. "However, he is still your teacher, so show him some respect. No!" he raised his voice to interrupt Harry's protests. "You don't realise that you're treading on thin ice, after what happened last year." Sighing, Harry nodded and walked towards the door.  
>"Just one more thing, Harry", the diminutive wizard asked, watching Harry as he turned to look back. "I think it's about time you told me the truth." This statement baffled Harry, who looked inquisitively at the professor.<br>"The truth about what, sir?" He asked, stepping away from the door slightly. Flitwick sighed, but whether it was out of frustration, weariness or sadness, Harry couldn't tell.  
>"You know what I'm talking about, Harry. The cause of your current predicament. The incident that has made you infamous at this school.<br>I wish to know the truth about what happened last year, between yourself, Miss Smith, Mr Weasley and your brother."

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><p><strong>DUN DUN DUNNNNN! Seriously though, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. For those who said Flitwick in answer to my question at the end of chapter 6 (wow, feels so long ago now, haha), congratulations! Have a cookie on me! I don't have any on me, unfortunately, so you'll have to get your own =(.<strong>

**Well, that's all for now! Enjoy Halloween and have fun. I have no idea when the next chapter will be ready, but it will be sometime New Year's Eve. That's the best I can promise for now, since my exams are taking place in November/December time *sob sob*.**

**Please take the time to review to tell me what you thought, and please also take the time to answer the poll on my profile page. =)**

**Cheerio!**


	16. Chapter 16: Repressed memories

**Welcome to chapter 16. This chapter is devoted to Harry's childhood, why he hates his parents, etc. This will kind of be a pause in the story, where Harry contemplates his childhood. Some of the key memories tie into his talk with Flitwick, so some of the most prominent memories will be covered in the chapters following this. I want to apologise for how long it has taken for me to get around to talking about his childhood, but it's what I consider to be one of the weakest parts of my writing ability. Therefore, if it's not that good, please bear that in mind.**

**Regardless, I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
><strong>

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><p>Chapter 16: Repressed memories<p>

Time seemed to pause around Harry. Flitwick froze in the middle of a sentence, and the faint noises coming from the Great Hall simply vanished. As Harry sat there in amazement, he suddenly bent double at the the agonising rush of memories that hit him, overloading his Occlumency shield. Grabbing his forehead in pain and scrunching his eyes shut tightly, Harry waited for the pain to go. As the pain slowly began to fade and dissipated, Harry opened his eyes and began to rub his head, before stopping in mid-action at what had happened to his surroundings.

He was in Potter Manor's living room. It was unmistakeable: The fire crackled merrily in the fireplace, and little lights twinkled around the room. The cream walls were decorated with pictures and drawings, while Harry sat on a comfy brown sofa. Baffled, he looked around in a desperate attempt to find something to grasp. "Yes, there are the Christmas decorations, there's snow outside so it much be around Christmas," he thought. As he thought this over, a young dark-haired child came running into the room, shouting "mummy! Daddy!" and waving a drawing in his outstretched hand. Focusing on the child's face, Harry's blood ran cold. 'The raven hair, the green eyes...it-it's me!' Harry panicked, trying to move out of the child's way, but it was too late. As the child was a few metres from him, Harry braced himself to fall, yet the child ran straight through him. Frowning at this, Harry gingerly touched his arm and discovered that it was solid. Confused and scared, Harry's eyes were caught by the moving photos on the mantelpiece. Stepping close to them, he noticed that he was in each photo, his younger self smiling and laughing with the rest of his family. From the photos, Harry concluded that he must of been about 3 at this point in time.

Realising that he had nothing to lose, he followed his younger self - who had frozen at the other entrance to the living room but who now continued running - as he dashed into the kitchen, where Lily and James stood, with Lily nursing an infant Alfred. As the young Harry came running in, James picked him up, smiling.  
>"What is it, champ?" he asked, smiling kindly at the young Harry, who pushed the drawing against his father's chest. Harry was stunned; his father NEVER smiled at him like that now.<br>"I dwew this," he lisped, smiling joyously. Remembering that they couldn't see him, Harry gingerly walked up beside his father, looking at the messy drawing of the four Potters all smiling outside a cube house. Turning to watch his father's reaction, Harry was shocked to notice Lily and James hugging Harry.  
>"It's wonderful, Harry," Lily assured the young child. "I'm going to hang it just here," flicking her wand and sticking the photo to the wall above the dinner table. "So that I see it everytime I come in here." His innocent younger self seemed ecstatic at this, throwing his arms tighter around his laughing parents. "Yay!" He whooped.<p>

Meanwhile, the older Harry watched, his face conflicted between happiness and sadness. As he stood there, the memory faded, to be replaced with another that seemed so similar that Harry thought he was in the same memory. As he observed however, he noticed subtle differences. His parents looked a bit older, while Alfred had grown from a baby into a toddler, who Harry estimated to be about 3. A slightly older Harry than the one in the last memory came running in, carrying another drawing. "Mummy, look!" He beamed, thrusting the drawing towards a drawn Lily. Looking at it, Lily began to smile at the younger Harry, and the older Harry began to smile. Yet suddenly Alfred started wailing after spilling his cereal, and Lily dropped the drawing in order to console the toddler. The younger Harry was painfully surprised, and tapped his mum.  
>"Mummy, what do you think?" He said, smiling innocently.<br>"Um, it's fine, Harry." Lily replied absent-mindedly, as Alfred continued to screech. "Just take it away."  
>"Are you going to frame it, mummy?" The poor child asked.<br>"NOT NOW, HARRY!" Lily yelled, glaring at the young Harry, whose face was heartbroken. Turning away, young Harry ran upstairs crying. Sighing in shame, Lily called after him, "Harry! I'm sorry!"  
>"I'll speak to him," James said.<br>"Thanks, James," Lily replied, smiling wearily at him. As James left the room, the memory faded once again.

After a few seconds, the next memory formed and Harry found himself in the living room of the manor, yet there was something different this time. The fire that once burnt merrily in the hearth had been reduced to embers, and the room was darkened. Lily, James and a 8 year old Alfred stood by the door, putting on winter clothes and getting ready to leave the house.  
>"Come on Alfred, let's go ice skating," James encouraged Alfred, opening the door.<br>"What about Harry, dad?" Alfred asked, frowning in confusion.  
>"What about him?" Lily replied, gently pushing Alfred towards the door. "He's 10 years old, he's old enough to look after himself." With that, the door slammed behind them, sending ripples of sound echoing through the building's hallways. Suddenly, the memory pulled ahead a few hours, so that Harry could hear dull sobs coming from the kitchen. Reluctantly moving towards the door, Harry slowly opening the door, stopping dead at the image of his 10 year old self weeping on the floor, his pale face screwed up with tears. Even if the memory had dulled in prominence in Harry's mind, he could still remember the painful hunger that gripped his body, tearing his body apart with the longing for food.<p>

As Harry watched, his younger self began to glow with a strange golden light, as the bread he'd been desperately trying to eat floated down to his level, allowing the memory Harry to grab and tear into it. Suddenly, the memory faded and quickly resumed, showing Harry at different parts of his life; him receiving his Hogwarts letter and being shunned by his parents despite it, using his power to summon food towards him, trying to train himself in the use of his power. As each one went past, Harry's face grew older and colder, and his very figure grew taller and more muscular. At last, Harry arrived in his memory of the present, where time was still frozen around him. Realising that tears were pouring down his face, Harry wiped them away hurriedly, using a low-level disillusionment charm to hid his reddened eyes and face.

As he waited for time to resume, Harry contemplated on what he had just seen. Frowning, he realised that, whatever it was that had caused him to see his past, it had not revealed his birth, nor what had happened on the night Voldemort attacked. Vowing to solve this mystery, Harry nearly flew off his chair when Flitwick continued talking.  
>"-Know what happened between you, Miss Smith, Mr Weasley and young Mr Potter." Turning to face him, Harry looked him in the eye and smiled.<br>"Very well sir, I'll tell you everything."

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading. I was already working on this chapter before the last one, so that's why it's being published. My work will stop me from producing any more until Christmas time.<strong>

**Please review with what you thought.**

**Cheerio!**


	17. Chapter 17: Confessions?

**Hey readers! Welcome to chapter 18. Thank you to everyone who has involved themselves in the poll to decide who Harry's love interest (if he has one) should be. If you're interested in answering this quick question, it's on my profile. Check it out!  
><strong>

**I managed to find the time to complete this chapter, so this is my Christmas present to all of you who've stayed with me throughout this story. I am so pleased that you have read this story, and I hope you'll stick with me until its end.**

**Without further ado, on with the chapter. Enjoy, please review, and have a great Christmas! **

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><p>Chapter 17: Confessions?<p>

"Do you remember when I first arrived at Hogwarts, Professor? "Harry asked the diminutive Charms teacher, surprising him. The child had turned towards him, and he seemed to have grown in the last few seconds; a startling change from the brooding, quiet persona Harry had possessed only moments ago.  
>"Of course, Harry. It's not something I forget easilu," Flitwick replied, smiling genuinely at the Potter.<br>"Did you notice how the sorting hat spent a greater amount of time talking to me than to any one else who was getting enrolled?" Harry asked again, holding up his hand for silence when Flitwick opened his mouth to interrupt. The Charms professor closed his mouth and slowly nodded, frowning in concentration at the effort of remembering the event that had taken place over 3 years ago. "Yes Harry, I do remember. At the time I assumed it was simply because of your desire to not be placed into a certain house," Flitwick answered. Harry half-smiled in response to this, and shook his head.  
>"No, it was nothing to do with that, sir. It had a conversation with me. To cut a long story short, it told me something. It told me that 'it is the darkness inside of us that is our greatest enemy'. I dismissed it more of the hat's nonsense.<p>

"Until last year. For most of last year I kept receiving terrible dreams that were almost prophetic in their nature." Harry continued, his eyes becoming unfocused and haunted and his skin growing paler as he recalled something so horrific that Flitwick shuddered at the thought of what it could possibly be.

After a few minutes, Harry's eyes refocused.  
>"Anyway, these dreams centred around Hogwarts burning and everyone who lives here dying. It moved on to tell me that this would happen soon. Because of that I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in a while." Flitwick nodded understandingly, recalling how he'd caught Harry falling asleep twice in his lessons. He's assumed it was because of studying or homework. "That went on for several weeks, with the dream changing every time. Sometimes the school and its students would be on fire, other times the students would be gutted and left to bleed to death. You get the picture."<p>

"And then..._It _happened," Harry sighed, slumping in his chair. "I was heading back to the Ravenclaw tower because I was exhausted, when Amy came running up and told me that Alfred was attacking Sam in the Entrance Hall," Harry continued, the light in his eyes dimming slightly. "I came running down to find Alfred and Ron attacking Sam, who was protecting a first year called Neville Longbottom. I somehow set up a omni-directional shield to stop anyone from interfering or from getting injured." Harry noted the look of awe on the Diminutive professor's face, as he marvelled at the fact that a third year had the ability to cast such a powerful and complex shield. After Harry cut off, Flitwick waited a few seconds for him to compose himself before pushing him to continue.

"Before I could do anything more, Alfred shot a powerful spell at Sam and - oh, Merlin - sent knocked her down and her head hit the stone floor." At this, Harry's voice choked and he buried his face in his hands, a position that he stayed in for a good few minutes. Instinctively, Flitwick laid a hand on Harry's shoulder, and waited for him to compose himself, impatiently brushing away the glistening tears that had fallen onto his face. "When that happened I kind of, _snapped." _At this point, Harry paused as he struggled to put what he said into words. "All of my anger, and hatred, and outrage...Sort of swelled up inside of me and this - this golden light covered me. I was just _so ANGRY,_ and I ended up throwing them across the shield before knocking them out. What happened after is a bit hazy, but I know I destroyed the barrier and altered everyone's memory of what they saw. I'm not sure why, but afterwards I collapsed and couldn't get up. It was as if all of the exhaustion and stress from the last few weeks overwhelmed me and pushed me into a coma. After that, nothing."

"I see," Flitwick finally said, when it soon became clear that Harry had nothing more to say. He sensed that there was something more that Harry wasn't telling him, but Harry was clearly not in the right emotional state for invasive questions of that nature. "Thank you for telling me this, Harry. From an experienced wizard, I believe you're right when you say that you think your emotions and physical exhaustion knocked you into a coma. Our emotions power our magic and different emotions give us varying levels of power, that much is true. However, it is not without its risks. Sometimes, the power unleashed from our emotions can overwhelm our bodies, particularly if we're handicapped in any way, be it from exhaustion or from malnutrition. It's especially common among younger wizards, such as yourself, because your magical core is fluctuating and can't support such a consistent flow of power." Rubbing his chin, Flitwick silently thought over what he'd been told.  
>"Still, this golden light I've never heard of, and being able to perform such a powerful and complex spell as the 360 degrees shield charm that you described...It's almost unheard of for someone your age. That charm usually takes several years of practice and can not be started until you're around 16. I know of only 4 wizards who've had the ability to cast such powerful spells at such a young age." Sighing, the charms professor stood and pushed in his chair. As he made to leave, however, he was stopped by the anxious teenager.<p>

"Professor, I have a favour to ask," Harry answered, mentally praying that Flitwick would hear him out. At the professor's nod, he relaxed. "I want to know what happened the night that Voldemort attack Godric's Hollow." At this, Flitwick looked incredulously at him.  
>"Harry, no one save for You-Know-Who knows what happened that night. As you can't exactly talk to him, I'm afraid I can't help yo-." He was cut off by Harry's raised hand.<br>"Hear me out. I've heard of a technique to recall lost or repressed memories. It's the opposite of occlumency, and it requires another person to carry it out, as well as one whom the target trusts. It can't just be a random person." Sighing, Flitwick looked at Harry with pity.  
>"I'm truly sorry, Harry. I've never heard of any technique like that, be it magical or not. I'm afraid I can't help you. Perhaps it's best that you let go of that desire and concentrate on the present. Revisiting the past rarely bodes well for the future. "Yet as he reached the door, a thought occurred to the short charms master, and he turned back to face the disheartened boy.<br>"Harry, if you truly wish to attempt this, I recommend you speak to Professor Snape. He's somewhat of an expert in the mind arts." This compromise had an immediate impact on Harry, whose face brightened up the the suggestion.  
>"Thank you, sir," he bowed his head in the charms teacher's direction. "You won't tell the Headmaster about what we talked about, will you?" He almost pleaded, the anxiety on his face making the professor's heart tighten up.<br>"If you really don't want me to, no, I won't," he assured the Potter child, smiling kindly. "Judging from what you've told me tonight, I can understand why you don't want him to find out." Turning back towards the door, he stopped in front of it, frowning. Harry noticed his expression quickly.  
>"What is it, professor?" He asked. Shaking his head, Flitwick smiled at Harry reassuringly, not wishing to worry the poor boy even more.<br>"It's not important, I just thought I'd closed this door after I entered. My mistake. Goodnight, Mr Potter. Make sure you actually sleep this time," he joked, his heart lifting at the sight of the poor boy's weak smile. Until he knew the whole truth, he could not help Harry to fully recover from the obvious mental trauma he'd suffer. But that did not mean that he couldn't help him. And with that thought in mind, Flitwick left the room in high spirits. As a relieved Harry followed his example, he mused over the risks of approaching the Potions master for help, and how the door of the classroom had opened after he distinctly remembered Flitwick closing it. Dismissing his fears as mere paranoia, he stretched slowly before climbing the steps of the staircases, on route to the Ravenclaw common room, feeling relieved at the thought that he finally had someone he could confide him. 'I'll tell him the rest in time, but not yet,' Harry reflected as he climbed into his bed.  
>'Enough secrets have been spilt today.'<p>

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><p><strong>That's all for now. Sorry if it was shorter than you were expecting, I've had very little time to write it. Please review with what you thought and please take part in the survey on my profile. It's important for those who want Harry to have a love interest later in the story.<strong>

**Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all!  
>Cheerio!<strong>


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